Love and Cookies
by theredreaper
Summary: Love... Was it really that hard to come by? After everything that had happened, is there still room to love? Silly, how only a cookie could change you.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my HomeStuck fanfic, enjoy! (I hope...)**

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [GC]

TA: hey KK

CG: HI SOL

TA: hii KK!

CG: SO WHAT SORT OF SHIT ARE YOU UP TO THIS TIME?

TA: ii ju2t wanted two talk wiith you

CG: OK, THEN TALK.  
TA: ii 2ee how thii2 ii2

CG: OK.

TA: hii

CG: OH. MY. FUCK. WE WENT THROUGH THIS.

TA: ii know iim 2orry

CG: SO.

TA: 2o...

CG: WHAT DO YOU WANT?

TA: okay

CG: JUST TELL ME.

TA: you liike cookiie2 riight?

CG: FUCK YES!

TA: iim goiing two make 2ome for you

CG: REALLY?

CG: REALLY REALLY?

CG: IS THIS A PRANK?

CG: IS THIS JOHN? ARE YOU PRETENDING TO BE SOLLUX TO GET MY HOPES UP?

TA: no ii really want two make cookiie2 and no iim not john

CG: CAN I HELP? NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T POISON THEM.

TA: but why would ii do that? iid only drug them.

CG: GREAT! I'M REALLY EXCITED TO COME OVER NOW.

TA: 2hut the fuck up KK

CG: OK. I'M COMING OVER NOW.

carcinoGeneticis [GC] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

Karkat logged off of his pesterchum, somewhat happy to be making cookies today. _Fuck yes! I get to have cookies today!_ He thought to himself. _But, ugh. Why did it have to be with Sollux? Out of all my friends…_

He pushed his chair out and walked to the door of his room, might as well at least try to enjoy himself today.

Karkat ran out the door, wondering what way he would get to Sollux's house.

When Karkat finally got there, he rang the doorbell and waited politely outside, something very unusual for Karkat. Sollux came to the door, surprised to see Karkat waiting there like a sane person and not breaking his door down, for once.

"Um… Hey KK…"

"Hey Sollux."

"Want to come inthide?" Sollux opened his door, still confused at Karkat's strange behavior.

Karkat stepped inside, looking up at the red-and blue themed front room.

"Did you do something different to your hallway?" Karkat asked, attempting small talk between the two.

"Uh… No?" Sollux said, still confused at Karkat's sudden calmness.

"Oh. Really? It looks different!"

"Yeah. I didn't do anything to it…"

"Hm… Well let's go make some fucking awesome cookies!" Karkat yelled.

Sollux smiled as Karkat ran into his kitchen, yelling about how awesome their cookies were going to be. "Thlow down KK! You're going to break thomething!"

"No I'm not!" Karkat called back at him, already getting the ingredients down.

_Oh I thee… KK jutht wantth more thugar…_ "KK, don't you have the thuff for cookieth at your houth?"

"No, I used it all up!" Karkat yelled, rummaging through his drawers.

"Again KK? Thith ith getting to be a habit with you."

"Shut up Sollux!" Karkat whined, pouring flour into a bowl.

"Do you want any help?" Sollux laughed as Karkat made the dough by himself.

"If you want to help then no one's stopping you!"

"Thut up KK!" Sollux laughed again, Karkat didn't even need a recipe anymore.

"Fuck!" Karkat snapped, glaring at the finished dough.

"What ith it thith time?"

"This cookie dough is too fucking good! I can't stop eating it!" He took another spoonful and shoveled into his mouth, tilting his head back and slowly chewing it.

"KK! Thtop eating that! You're going to get thalmonella!"

"No I'm not Sol! I've done this plenty of times before!"

"KK... Give. Me. The. Dough."

"No." Karkat grabbed another spoonful, licking the dough off.

"KK, give me the bowl!"

"No!"

"Now!" Sollux raised his voice, holding his hand out.

Karkat looked up at Sollux's death glare, "Hell no!" He grabbed the bowl and ran out of the kitchen, eating another bite of it.

"Hey, get back here!" Sollux ran after him, "Don't you want cookieth?"

"No way! Cookie dough is so much better!" Karkat bolted up the stairs, narrowly avoiding Sollux's grab for him.

Sollux followed him up the stairs, "Dammit KK! Jutht come back here, don't make me chathe you!"

"Too late, it's like a game of tag now!"

"God, you are thuch a child!" Sollux sighed.

"At least I'm not a fuckass, fucka-arrg!" Karkat groaned, he was lying on the floor with Sollux on top of him.

"Ha! Take that you nubthlurping fuckpod!" Sollux grabbed the bowl out of Karkat's hands and slid it farther down the hallway, away from the other boy.

"Fuck you Sollux!" Karkat yelled, reaching out for the dough.

Sollux moved so that he was sitting on top of Karkat, using his hands to pin down his wrists.

"Ung!" Karkat groaned, "Get off of me fuckass!"

"No way! We are baking thothe! You are going to thtop eating them and deal with it!"

"But I want them!"

"They're not even cookieth!"

"You're not God! You don't control what they are!" Karkat shoved Sollux off of him and scrambled up, grabbing the cookie dough as he did, "They can be whatever the fuck they want to be!"

"KK! Get back here!" Sollux jumped up after him.

They both ran through the house until Sollux couldn't find him. _Damn him. _Sollux thought, _where could he be?_

Sollux went back downstairs, a bit flustered and out of breath from his chase. He quietly made his way into the kitchen, jumping a bit when he saw Karkat.

"Arg! Don't scare me like that, fuckass!" Karkat yelled, accidentally flinging the ball of cookie dough he had across the room.

"What are you doing KK?" Sollux asked him, looking at the sheet of dough balls.

"What do you think shithead? I'm making cookies!"

"Y-you are?" Sollux stuttered, wondering if all the running around had made him hallucinate.

"Yeah, you wanted cookies, didn't you? And since I'm fucking tired from running around I thought that I'd put them in the oven."

"Oh… Well thankth KK, but I didn't mind that you jutht wanted the dough…"

"Well then why the fuck were you flipping out so bad earlier?!" Karkat snarled, slamming the cookies into the oven.

"I jutht didn't want you to get thalmonella…"

Karkat's eyes widened, "Oh." He sheepishly looked down at the floor, "Uh… Thanks for the concern I guess…"

"Geethe KK! You're thtarting to thound like Tavroth!"

"Shut the fuck up! No I'm not!" Karkat took a spoon from the counter and pretended to throw it at Sollux.

"Yeth, becauthe a wooden thpoon would hurt me." Sollux replied sarcastically, "How much longer are they going to be in there for?"

"I don't know, look at the timer, stupid!"

"Hm… Another eight minuteth…"

"Whatever."

"Hey, after you're done making thethe, want to watch a movie?" Sollux took another glance at the timer, still seven minutes to go.

"Sure, what sort of shitty movies do you have here?"

"Hm… Mothtly horror and thtuff like that."

"Horror? Don't you have any _other _genres of movies?" Karkat's eyes widened, he gulped at the thought of having to watch a horror.

"Not really, and I don't have any _romantic comedieth _if that'th what you were looking for." Sollux teased.

"Pfft." Karkat scoffed, "I'm not afraid of a shitty horror movie!"

"Then watch one with me."  
"Why the fuck should I satisfy your strange urges to watch a movie with me? I'm not stupid, I know what you're up to!" Karkat's voice got louder with each word, until he was finally yelling at Sollux.

"What am I up to then KK?" Sollux purred, pretending to be seductive, "Tell me what I'm plotting…"

"Fuck no! Stop that Sollux, you're creeping me out!"

"Tho you can't even handle a little creeping? You're a thcaredy cat!" Sollux teased, "Tho thcared you can't even watch a cheethy movie with your betht bro!"

"Shut the fuck up Sollux! I am not scared!" Karkat screeched at him.

"Ooh, and I tho am! Oh no! Thtop yelling KK! You're thcaring me!" Sollux mocked, laughing hard.

"Stop laughing! I am not fucking scared! Why don't you pick out a fucking movie then?"

Sollux wiped his eyes, wet from laughing so hard, "Fine, I will." Sollux giggled, retreating the room to find a scary movie.

_Beep, beep, beep! _The timer went off; Karkat grabbed an oven mitt and, grumbling, took the cookies out of the oven.


	2. Chapter 2

**Lalala, I thought that this was longer but it's not! T-T oh well... I am trying to do a chapter a week, but I still have school, and work thingies, and Shakespeare team, and friends that like to come over to my house. But I ****_am _****trying, really!** **And sorry if there are any typos! **

**If you have trouble reading Sollux's lisp, feel free to ask what he's saying!**

"So what movie did you pick out?" Karkat asked, taking a bite of his cookie.

"The Birdth, not too thcary for you, ith it?" Sollux taunted, popping it into the DVD player.

"No fucking way, how are _birds _scary?" Karkat sputtered, looking at Sollux like he was crazy.

"Birdth are thcary when they all thwarm down at you at once and peck out you eyeth." Sollux shrugged, turning the TV on. "But I don't think that thith movie is thcary."

"Whoa hey, do you have any blankets?"

"Yeah thure, by the couch." Sollux gestured to his right, off to the side of his dark blue couch.

Karkat grabbed a blanket and plopped down on the couch, "Where are your parents again?"

"They're away thomewhere for the weekend… Figured I'm rethponthible enough to leave me alone…" Sollux switched the TV so that _The Birds _opening credits could play.

"Neighbors keeping an eye on you?"

"They come by every little bit, make thure I'm not dead or anything…"

"That's nice of them…" Karkat trailed off, wrapping the blanket around him.

"Dude." Sollux look at Karkat, _seriously?_ _A blanket? What are you, scared?_

"What?" Karkat snapped.

"Nothing…"

"Just press play already!"

"I'm doing it! Jethuth KK, thometimeth you're tho needy…"  
"Whatever you lisping freak!" Karkat stuck his tongue out at Sollux as the movie began.

The credits began, and as the 'terror' of the movie increased, so did Karkat's fear.

"S-sol?" Karkat mumbled, gulping, after another on-screen bird attack.

"What ith it KK?"

"Can we…" Karkat turned his head to look up at Sollux, seeing his amused expression, still fixed on the TV.

"Ha! Fake!" Sollux chanted, not hearing Karkat over the squawking of the birds.

"Sol?" Karkat scooted closer to Sollux, wrapping the blanket tighter around himself.

"What? You can't be _thcared? _Can you? Come on, look at how fake thith ith!" Sollux snorted, laughing at the fake blood.

"I-I just… I have to… Use the b-bathroom…" Karkat leapt out of his seat, and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He leaned his head over the sink and let out a tear. He let it roll halfway down his face before wiping it away furiously with his fist. _No way Karkat, there is _no _way_ _you are scared by those dumb birds. Get a grip Karkat! Why are you crying? Sollux thinks that this is _funny_, why are you so scared?_

Karkat took in a deep breath and splashed cold water on his face, _okay, I'm ready to go back in there and finish that dumbshit movie._ He opened the bathroom door and made his way back to the couch.

"Hey KK, ith raining…" Sollux trailed off, looking at the downpour outside.

"It _is_ raining, thank you for pointing that out Captain Obvious." Karkat said with hostile eyes.

"I hope that thereth thunder and lightning, that ith the betht part of a thtorm…"

_I hope not… _Karkat thought, glancing outside. There were probably a bunch of birds out there, waiting for him to come out so that they could peck him to death. Stupid movie.

"Hey, come and thit down." Sollux patted the spot next to him, looking back at Karkat.

"Fine but you better not pull anything, fuckass." Karkat glared at Sollux, cautiously sitting down.

They watched another attack of the birds, more birds. Birds, birds, birds, and more birds.

"Hey, I'll be right back." Sollux got up from the couch and went down the hallway, leaving Karkat alone.

"Sollux?" Karkat called.

A streak of lightning illuminated the air, making Karkat jump and squeal.

"Sollux!" Karkat howled, clutching his blanket closer to him.

_Wholly thit KK… What ith wrong with leaving you alone for _five _thecondth..._

Sollux went up to his room, and grabbed a metal cage and shushing the chirping coming from inside. _Karkat will never know what hit him. Thith ith my revenge for that thupid prank he and John pulled on me a while back… I already got John, now for KK…_

"Hey KK! I have thomething for you!" Sollux teased, grabbing the small bird out of its cage.

"What is it? Fuck, do I have to go up there?" Karkat whined, masking his fear.

"No, I'll bring it down to you, jutht don't move!"

Karkat sat rigidly in his seat, looking around him, above him, anywhere but outside or at the movie screen. _A bird pecked through the door, only to be pushed back…_

Sollux slowly crept down the stairs, quietly so that Karkat wouldn't hear him coming.

_The girl went upstairs to the strange noise…_

He peered around the corner, waiting for the perfect time.

_She opened the door._

He took a peek at the movie screen.

_She was ambushed by birds._

Almost there…

_She let out a bloodcurdling scream._

_Now! _Sollux thought, jumping out from behind the wall and setting the bird loose on Karkat.

Karkat's scream was _loud_. Louder than he thought it would be. _Damn that boy can scream._

"What the fucking shit! Sollux you fucking bastard!" Karkat shrieked, flailing his arms around.

Sollux laughed, laughed so hard tears budded in his eyes. "Oh my gog KK! I thoud've filmed that! It wath _tho _funny!"

"No it wasn't fucking _funny_! What the fuck Sollux?" Karkat stopped flailing and tried to catch his breath.

Sollux re-caught the bird and, still laughing, went upstairs and put it in its cage.

He crooned a few calming words to it before turning around and heading out the door.

"Jesus Sollux!" Karkat glared at Sollux as he came back down the stairs.

"What? That wath the thame reaction I had when you and John covered my room and replathed all my movieth with fucking My Little Pony themed thuff." Sollux pursed his lips as he tried to contain a smile.

"Oh yeah… You got me!" Karkat rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the walls.

"Come on, you _know _it wath funny."

"Shut up."  
"Come on…" Sollux poked Karkat's cheek, he flinched.

"I said shut the fuck up!"

Sollux looked at Karkat, smiling.

Karkat bit his lip, trying not to smile. He puffed out his cheeks, puckered his lips, and then burst into laughter.

"Oh fuck! That was so funny! Your reaction! Seeing all your stuff _covered _in My Little Pony!" Karkat doubled over, laughing so hard tears streamed down his face.

"Not ath funny ath your girl thcream!" Sollux laughed.

"No way! You screamed so much louder than I did!" Karkat retorted, still laughing.

The two continued laughing with tears pouring down their faces, not caring who might hear them.

Karkat caught his breath, wiping away the wetness on his face. "Okay, it's late I better get going… Fuck."

"What ith it KK?" Sollux crawled over to where Karkat was heaped on the floor, tangled in his blanket.

"It's raining."

"I know that, I told you earlier…" Sollux said.

"Yeah! But I forgot! Now it's fucking raining!" Karkat whined.

"Well whath wrong with rain?"

"I rode my bike here, I don't have a car! Remember?"

"Yeah, neither do I… Tho why don't you jutht thtay here tonight?" Sollux looked at Karkat like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I would, but I have to get up _obscenely _early to watch my mom perform at church." Karkat groaned, scrunching his face up.

"Again? Doethn't thith happen, like, every other weekend?"

"No fuckass, it's only her second performance. I need to be there to 'support' her." Karkat stuck his tongue out at Sollux.

"I would give you a ride back, but I wath told that if I touched one of my parenth carth, I would be grounded for life. I don't know why…" Sollux trailed off.

"Well I'm going to call John and ask if he'll come get me." Karkat pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialing the number.

"Your weird neighbor friend that pullth prankth on me hath a car?" Sollux sputtered, his jaw dropping.

"Yeah." Karkat mumbled, putting the phone to his ear.

Fifteen minutes later, headlights shone in the driveway, signaling Karkat to come out.

"See you later Sollux!" Karkat opened the door, pulling his hood up and racing to the car.

Sollux saw him struggle with the door before John unlocked it. He would bet money that he locked it on purpose, the little trickster.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey. I'm back! I tried to get this on, ****but I wanted it to be good! And I've been sick, so I haven't been writing much. Last weekend was all sniffles and naps! BUT WE'RE GOOD NOW.**_  
_

**And I've heard about people saying that they don't like it when an author writes out Sollux's lisp (not to me, just in general). Well I will keep writing it out because that makes it more fun! Don't like it? THEN DON'T READ IT. Again, if you have trouble deciphering it... Just ask!**

_Ring, ring, ring!_ Sollux's phone went off, the sound of his ringtone jolting him awake.

"Hello?" He answered groggily, putting his glasses on.

"Hi Sollux! This is Feferi!" A cheerful voice trilled at him.

"Hey Fef, whatcha need?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to come play some flag football with us!" She asked, sounding hopeful.

"Who ith uth?"

"Oh, everyone! Rose, Aradia, Eridan, Gamzee, Nepeta, John, Terezi, Tavros, Vriska, Equius, Dave, and Jade! And Kanaya is hosting this whole shindig, you just didn't answer your phone when she called!" Feferi chimed at him.

"Hm… I can probably go." Sollux didn't really want to go, but Feferi _did _ask nicely, and it had been a while since he last attempted to play sports. A nice football to the head never killed anyone, did it?

"Okay! And what time is Karkat done with his mom's piano-church-recital thing?"

"Um… What time ith it now? I jutht woke up." Sollux squinted, his eyes still adjusting to the light streaming through his windows.

"Uh… It's around noon! Sorry for waking you up by the way!""

"Oh, he'll be done at noon thirty then… And ith fine, I needed to get up anyway" Sollux mumbled.

"Noon thirty? Haha, Sollux! You're adorable! Well then I hope we'll see you both at one-ish! We'll be at the park across from Kan's, alright?"

"Alright…" Sollux groaned, faceplaming at his mistake with the time.

"Okay! Hope to see you then! I'm really excited!"

"Thee ya Fef." Feferi hung up, leaving Sollux blinking in the sunlight.

Karkat flinched, his phone buzzed loudly in his pocket. "Fuck…" He breathed, hoping no one had heard him, or his phone for that matter.

"Karkat! That was supposed to be off!" Mrs. Vantas hissed at him under her breath.

"I know! And everyone else knows that I'm at this stupid…" Karkat trailed off, standing up.

"Where do you think that you're going mister?" She glared at her son as he left the small theater that their church was hosted in.

"What do you want?" Karkat snapped, answering his phone.

"We're playing flag football acroth from Kan'th house. You are coming. At one." Sollux ordered.

"Why the fuck would I want to go play football?" Karkat blushed, thinking about playing football with John. Then maybe after they would all go over to Kan's house and do something.

"Come on, jutht play you fucking Magikarp." Sollux almost pleaded.

"Did you just call me a _Magikarp_? As in the fucking _Pokemon_?" Karkat's jaw hung open, Sollux was _not _calling him a magikarp! _Gog fucking dammit! Magikarp is the worst Pokemon to be called. At least I get to evolve into a Gyarados._

"Yeah, I did jutht call you a Magikarp, becauthe when you come to play football you'll magically evolve into a big-asth fucking Gyaradoth."

"Oh well that's fucking nice to know! I'll be sure to evolve!" Karkat rolled his eyes, walking out of the church building.

"Ith your weird church thing done yet?" Sollux whined.

"Sure, I'll just take my mom's car and leave! No fuckass, it's not fucking over. I still have another ten minutes before my mom will let me—" Karkat inhaled sharply, "Gotta go Sol, see ya later maybe."

Sollux was left listening to the automated buzzing after he hung up.

"Fuck, gog damnit. The world hates me." Karkat ran back inside the church, hearing them reciting the final prayer.

"Karkat Vantas!" His mom hissed, roughly pushing him back outside.

"What?"

"Why the hell did you leave?" She shrieked.

"Because I had to answer a fucking phone call, it's not illegal." Karkat sassed.

"Don't you use that language young mister! And do _not _sass me!" She snapped.

"Why, I'm not a little fucking toddler anymore!" He retorted.

"Listen…" Mrs. Vantas crooned, "I know your father leaving has been hard on you. It's been just as hard for me, but we have to move on!"

"Oh, and I haven't fucking moved on? I'm not the one that brings it up every fucking conversation!" Karkat stormed off, glad his church didn't require formal dress.

He was going to play some football.

**And yeah. A Pokemon reference. Don't like it? THEN DON'T READ IT.**


	4. Chapter 4

**This spacing is weird.**

**Well, HAPPY CHAPTERING! Wait. What. Just...**

"Okay, the teams will be announced shortly! Rose and I have determined what team you'll be on based upon your physical characteristics and athletic ability!" Kanaya shouted across the field so that everyone could hear.  
"If you don't like your team, then too bad!" Rose shouted at them, louder.  
"Team one: Tavros, Dave, Sollux, Terezi, Karkat, Aradia, Feferi, and Rose! Grab a flag, team one is red. The rest of us will be blue." Kanaya trilled.  
The teams dispersed, starting out with a few warm-up passes between some of them.  
"Fuck, Sollux. How do you even play this game?" Karkat hissed into Sollux's ear.  
"You don't know how to play football?" Sollux gasped; even he knew how to play football.  
"You shut your fucking mouth." Karkat told him, "Now just tell me the rules!"  
"Catch the ball. Throw it to thomeone who ith on your team. If the other team hath it, grab their flag. Get it?" Sollux smiled evily at Karkat, who was glaring at him.  
"Fuck off Captor; I don't need your help!" Karkat snarled at him.  
"Then why did you athk for it? Theemed like you needed it a thecond ago." Sollux taunted.  
"Fuck you." Karkat flashed his middle finger in Sollux's face, wiggling it around, "Fuck. You."  
Sollux laughed, thinking that Karkat wasn't so tough on the inside.

"Yo motherfucker, pass me the miracle ball!" Gamzee shouted, his light brown afro bouncing around.  
"Okay! One second Gamzee!" Nepeta squeaked, running around Feferi as she made a half-hearted attempt to steal her flag.  
"Pass it over here Nepeta!" Equius yelled, knocking over Karkat as he tried to get open.  
"Fuck you Zahhak!" Karkat cursed, stumbling to the ground, his face sliding along the grass, "You don't fucking tackle in flag football!"  
"Yo motherfuckin best friend, need a hand?" Gamzee lumbered over to where Karkat was pouting on the ground.  
"Sure." Karkat sneered, taking the offer of his friend's hand.  
"Score!" Jade cheered, her black hair dancing around as she jumped up and down at the end-zone with the football.  
"How the fuck did Harley get the ball?" Karat gasped, almost yanking Gamzee to the ground in his attempt to get up.  
"I passed it to her!" Nepeta shrugged, running over to Jade's side and rubbing her strawberry-blonde head against hers, purring softly.  
"Why didn't anyone stop her?" Karat yelled, looking pointedly at Equius.  
"I tried to, but I was too busy with the ruckus caused by someone." Equius almost screamed, his broken sunglasses reflecting into KK's eyes.  
"Well sorry I wasn't concerning about the _other _team, fuckass!" Karkat flipped him off, walking over to his side of the field.  
"Ok guys! Get ready we-Aaarh!" John screamed, jumping as Equius kicked the ball.  
"Oh fudgesicles!" Equius shouted as the ball popped from the force of the kick.  
"Bro, that is so not cool." Dave droned.  
"Equius! You popped my football!" Kanaya glared at him, unclipping her flag.  
"Wait guys! Don't get mad, I have extra footballs!" Nepeta squeaked, running to get her bag.  
"Of course you have extras Nepeta..." Vriska rolled her eyes, stalking over to Kanaya's side and whispering something in her ear.  
"Thanks Nepeta…" Equius scratched the back of his head, smiling nervously.

"No problem Equius! We've played together lots of times, so I figure this would happen." Nepeta came back with a new ball in her hands, setting it up for John to kick off instead.

"Here it comes!" John yelled, kicking the ball with full force.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!_ Karkat yelled in his mind, _how am I supposed to catch this ball? What the fuck is going on here! _He took a step back, cringing away as the ball landed right in front of him.

"You know you could have caught that, right?" Sollux smiled at Karkat, his glasses flashing in the sun.

"You know that's the first sentence you've said that doesn't have a lisp, right?" Karkat fake-smiled right back before it quickly melted into a grimace.

"Thut up KK!" Sollux pouted, folding his arms over his chest.

"Just grab the stupid ball!" Vriska snapped at them from across the field.

Karkat grabbed the ball, everyone surrounding him in their positions.

"Down, set… Hike!" He yelled, passing the ball quickly to Tavros.

"Uh…" Tavros mumbled, looking down at the ball in his hands, then back up at the smiling clown face coming towards him.

"Come on Tavbro, time to score!" Gamzee grabbed Tavros, setting the smaller boy on his shoulders.

"Uh, Gamzee, is this allowed?" Tavros squeaked, gripping Gamzee's hair and the football with each hand.

"It's not not allowed!" He laughed, swerving between Equius as he grabbed his flag.

"Hey! Clown boy! I got your flag, now get back here!" Equius shouted.

"Nope, you gotta get Tavbro's flag!" Gamzee kept running, laughing as all of his shorter friends tried to grab the flag.

"Uh… Sc-score?" Tavros stuttered, glancing nervously around as the other team evil-eyed him.

"Yeah motherfuckers, get used to it!" Gamzee lumbered over to Equius, smiling as he took his flag back.

"Wwait. Howw is that fair? That blundering clowwn carried that small browwn-haired boy to the end zone." Eridan glared at Gamzee, puffing up his purple-streaked hair.

"Yeah Gamzee, I don't think that counts…" Feferi trailed off, trying to calm her aggravated step-brother down.

"See! Even Fef agrees wwith me!" Eridan smiled at her, softly resting his hand on her shoulder.

"No fucking way! You're all a bunch of crybabies! Tavros made it over the line, and that's final! We got a point!" Karkat shook Terezi's shoulders, "Right?"

"Actually KK, it ith thix pointh…" Sollux whispered in his ear.

"We got six points!" He corrected, unfazed by his fumble.

"You did not! You got no points because that is not allowwed!" Eridan shrieked, his accent making it hard to take him seriously.

"You know what!" Karkat stomped over to where Eridan was, pulling his flag off.

There was a resonating gasp throughout the group of friends.

"Oh my cod." Eridan looked up, blushing furiously.

"Fith boxerth? Really Eridan?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey. So. I'm going to be away this weekend for the Shakespeare festival so I may or may not post another chapter. Hopefully I'll write a TON on the way to Cedar City and get a bunch done! Fingers crossed!**

**I so thought that I posted this. But I didn't. ^-^' Haha, whoops!**

_Oh my gog. No way. Did I just _pants _Eridan? _Karkat's mouth hung wide open, staring at Eridan's fish boxers and the flag in his hand.

"Quit starin' at me ya creep!" Eridan quickly pulled his pants back up, his blush deepening as a few of the friends giggled and averted their eyes.

"Oh my gog… Eridan I swear I didn't mean to—" Karkat started.

"Pull dowwn my pants?" Eridan suggested, ripping his flag from Karkat's grasp.

"I didn't mean to, fuckass! No need to get your fishies in a twist!" Karkat sneered, making a face as Eridan turned his back.

"Why don't we go back to my house for a little… Uh… Water break." Kanaya suggested, grabbing Vriska and yanking her towards her house.

"Yeah… That sounds good!" Feferi squealed, running to catch up with them.

One by one, the friends all made it into Kanaya's house until it was just Karkat and Sollux standing outside.

"What the fuck dude?" Sollux laughed, starting across the street.

"I swear to gog Sollux, if you say one more word I will rip your fucking arms off and beat you with them." Karkat hissed, glaring at Sollux.

"I'd like to thee you try! I've got thoulderth of thteel." Sollux retorted.

"Oh yeah fuckass? Well at least I have some muscle instead of just weak noodles." He flexed his arms, what he had as 'muscles' barley flexing out.

"At leatht I have a brain." Sollux jeered, pointing at his head.

Karkat's head snapped to the side, he grabbed Sollux's arms and pulled as hard and fast as he could.

"Fuck!" Karkat shouted, yanking Sollux out of the way of a speeding car, "Well if you have one, then use it!"

Sollux's eyes widened, his breath caught in his throat.

"You okay?" Karkat whispered, his arms tight around the other.

"I-I think tho…" Sollux stuttered, his breathing going back to normal.

"Just… Don't stop in the middle of the street again, okay?"

"I'll try not to." Sollux wrapped his arms around Karkat, leaning his head down.

"Hmph." Karkat grunted, pulling Sollux into a hug.

"Karkat… I want to tell you something… I…" Sollux choked out, his breath catching again.

"Yo losers! Get in here, Kanaya has cookies!" Vriska yelled out the door, half a dozen cookies in her hand. "Help eat them before I do, she's trying to get me fat!" She shoved a cookie into her mouth.

"Oh _fuck _yes! Thank you spider bitch!" Karkat broke away from Sollux, darting across the street and taking the cookie Vriska offered to him. "Coming Sol?"

"Yeah, I jutht need a minute…" Sollux jogged across the street, reluctantly taking a cookie (which he was not sure it wasn't laced with poison) from the dirty-blonde-demon-child.

"Just eat it, I didn't do anything bad to it!" Vriska laughed.

Sollux slowly took a bite, sniffing for poison. _Although if it's odorless…_

"Maybe…" She giggled and stepped inside, eating another cookie.

"Well, ath long ath ith not too poithonouth." Sollux shrugged, following her inside.

"Oh no way! I loaded that thing up with a _ton _of toxins, all that bad stuff… In there…" She replied sarcastically.

Sollux feigned choking, clutching his throat and coughing.

"Ha ha. Very funny Mr. Jokester." Vriska sneered, rolling her eyes at him.

Sollux continued to choke, coughing and sputtering, gasping for breath.

"Ok, I get it Sollux, you can stop now." Vriska laughed nervously.

He kept choking, grabbing his throat and struggling for air. He slowly let his coughing cease before slumping to the ground in a dead-looking heap.

"S-Sollux?" Vriska stuttered, reaching her hand out to his seemingly unconscious body.

He lay there, unresponsive, eyes closed.

"Hey… Are you okay? Oh my god. I didn't… Sollux I swear to god you get up right now! Just my luck, damnit!" She cried, squishing Sollux's face in her fingers.

He kept unconscious, eyes kept closed.

"Sollux. Sollux you get up! Get up! Oh my god!" She screamed, rattling his body around. "I didn't mean to…" She sniffled.

Sollux sat up suddenly and laughed, "Oh my gog Vrithka! You thould've theen your fathe!"

"Sollux? What the hell!" She yelled, pushing him roughly away from her.

"_Thollux, get up right now! _That wath hythterical!" He rolled onto his back in a fit of hysteria, trying to catch a breath in between bursts of laughter.

"I hate you!" She stormed off, yelling profanities at him as she turned the corner.

"I hate you too!" He laughed, standing up.

"What did you do?" Karkat asked him, coming back with more cookies.

"I just thcared Vrithka really bad. It wath really funny, too bad you mithed it!"

"You scared _Vriska_?" Karkat gasped, his mouth hanging open.

"Yep!"

"You know that bitch will gut you then display your mangled body for all to see!" He rambled.

"Whatever KK, I can take her." Sollux rolled his eyes.

"Well fuckass, if you need help, I'm not going to do _anything._"

"Like I care!"

"You so care!"

"No I don't, that bitch doethn't thcare me."

"Sure…" Karkat grabbed Sollux and dragged him around the corner, into a nicely furnished room with a giant TV in the middle.

"Hey! We were just about to get you, what movies do you like?" Kanaya asked them, her green and black hair poking out from a cupboard filled with movies.

"I like horror and thtuff like that." Sollux called over to her.

"I like… Uh… Whatever's good." Karkat mumbled, _I guess I could tell her I like romcoms… Nope. I'm not going to do that. No way._

"Ok!" Then I'll just pick one randomly… Sound fair?" She asked.

Everyone nodded in agreement, except for Dave who was obviously too cool to care.

"Stranger Than Fiction?" She pulled the movie out, putting it into the DVD player.

"Ooh! I love this movie!" Eridan squealed, running in from the kitchen and jumping onto the couch.

"Oh, guys, I gotta bolt, nice seeing all of you." Dave glanced at his phone's screen, walking out of the room.

"Bye Dave!" Terezi yelled, louder than anyone else.

"See ya TZ." Dave flashed a quick-almost-non-existent smile at her before pulling up his cool-guy charade and waltzing out the door.

Terezi watched him go, her eyes big and longing. "Bye…" She whispered.

"Hey fuckface, mind if I sit?" Karkat asked, taking the spot next to her on one of Kanaya's plush couches.

"Sure…" She wrinkled her nose, almost red eyes flashing behind pointed glasses, and a slight snicker starting up.

"Sweet beans." Karkat ruffled her hair, stealing a blanket from behind her head.

"Ok Karkat, you smell so nice!" Terezi laughed, sniffing his head.

"Sure! Just fucking smell me every time I sit by you."

"Well you know that shampoo is my favorite!" She giggled.

"Then why don't you get some, hurr durr." Karkat gave her an are-you-fucking-kidding-me look before turning his attention to the now playing TV.

"Because I like it on you!" She licked his ear, sniffing his hair again.

"Oh my fuck Terezi! Go to hell!" He jumped off of the couch, going to sit in one of the others.

She cackled her high-pitched laugh before snuggling up where Karkat had just been sitting.


	6. Chapter 6

**In case you were wondering... The Shakespeare festival was awesome! Our group won a prize for some sort of teamwork thing! (We get a trophy... Hehehe...)**

** WELL. Ta dah, another chapter! **

**Hohoho, merry gristmas! (even thought it's October...[and the story is set in the summer...])**

"Karkat Vantas!" A shrill shriek was heard from the kitchen as he opened the door.  
"Mom?" He yelled back.  
"Yes it's your fucking _mom_ who else were you expecting fuckface?" She yelled, storming out to meet him.  
"I don't know, asshat! The pizza delivery guy?" He screamed in her face.  
"Don't. You. Dare." Her voice shook, "Say one more word."  
He took a deep breath, "One. More. Fucking. Word."  
_Smack!_  
"I said, don't say another word!"  
Silence rang out after her hit.  
Stars swam before Karkat's vision; tears were budding in his eyes.  
"Where the fuck were you? Don't you know how worried I was for your safety?" She cried, tears streaming down her face.  
Karkat was too shocked by her sudden mood swing to say anything, but he did anyway, "Mom? It's okay, I was just out playing football with some friends, I'm sorry I scared you..."  
He looked at her head, now buried in his chest, and tried to find a reasonable explanation for what was going on. His eyes swiveled around, looking for a source of the insanity.  
"Karkat..." She sobbed, her tears soaking his shirt. "Don't leave me alone!"  
His eyes locked on an empty bottle on the kitchen floor, a shattered glass next to it.  
"Mom?" He whispered.  
"Yes, my dearest angel?" She looked up at him, trying to catch her breath.  
"What were you doing before I got here?" He breathed, hardly choking out the words. "What were you doing while I was gone?"  
She took a sharp intake of breath, making a quick glance to their small kitchen.  
"Mom!" Karkat snapped as she scrambled over to the shards of broken glass and the empty bottle. "Fucking listen to me!"  
"Shut the fuck up Karkat!" She shrieked, grabbing the bottle.  
"Stop, you're fucking drunk!" He shouted, eyes widening as she arced the bottle back.  
"You weren't supposed to be born. You're just a mistake. I wish you were _dead_!" She spat, her eyes dead serious, no sign of drinking at all.  
"M-mom?" He stuttered, backing up against the door.  
"It's _your_ fault he left! If it weren't for _you_, he'd still be here! It may have taken him seventeen years to realize it, but _you're_ the mistake. _You're_ at fault." She sobbed, "You should be dead already! You should be gone! Not him!"  
She threw the bottle at Karkat's head with full force.  
He flinched out of the way as it hit the door, shattering into a million tiny pieces.  
"You're the biggest mistake I've ever made!" Her chest heaved, wild eyes blurred by tears. "Now go to your room."  
"But—" He started.  
"Now." She growled.  
Karkat couldn't stand. His limbs felt like jelly and his brain felt like it had melted in his head.  
"I said _go to your room _you little shit!" She lunged at him, hands outstretched and eyes fogged.  
"Mo—" He was cut off by cold hands wrapping around his neck, cutting off his air supply.  
"Stop. Stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop! It's not my fault, it's yours! You, Karkat Vantas, are the one at fault!" She yelled tightening her grip, hissing his name like it was poison.  
Karkat clawed at her hands, his legs flailing about wildly as he tried to get her to let go. His vision started to go dark, starts popping into his eyesight.  
She released him, throwing him down. "Now, go to your room!"  
Karkat scrambled to his knees, clutching his throat, and stumbled into the hallway where his room was located.  
He looked back at his mom. Her head was down, she was trembling in her heels, she was crazy. She was insane.  
He darted into his room and slammed the door shut, not wanting to go through another of her mood swings.  
"Karkat Vantas!" She banged on his door, throwing it open.  
"Y-yes?" He stuttered, slowly backing up.  
"If you dare tell_ anyone_ about this... I. Will. Kill. You."  
His eyes widened, he backed up against his bed and fell to the floor.  
"So." She took a step.  
"Don't" Her shoes thumped against his carpet.  
"Even." She raised her hand.  
"Think." She grabbed his face, forcing it to look at her when he looked away.  
"About it." She threw him down again, pinning him to the floor. "Got that?"  
"Y-yes..." He whispered, tears pooling out of his eyes.  
"I can't hear you!" She shrieked, crushing his wrists under her hands.  
"Yes!" He sobbed, making scared, childish noises.  
Her wild eyes searched his face for any sign of doubt. "Good." She punched his stomach, making him cringe. "Don't let anyone,_ anyone_, know."  
"Okay!" He continued to sob, writhing under her tightening grip.  
"I love you." She whispered, her tears mingling with his on his face.  
"I-I love you too..."  
And for once, Karkat wished that his mom was right. He wished that he was a mistake. _Please... Let this stop. Let it end._  
But it didn't. It never would.  
"Please..." He whispered, squealing as her nails drew blood.  
She gently kissed his cheek, releasing her grip. "See you at dinner my dear, I do hope that you'll enjoy it."  
She left him to cry his eyes out, weak and half-dead on the floor.


	7. Chapter 7

**I do apologize, I am assuming some of you were confused as to why Karkat was abused by his mom in the last chapter. **

**(backstory...) Karkat's dad left them, before this story took place. His mom has been getting more and more depressed over the course of the past few chapters, even though it was not shown. She thinks that it was ****_Karkat's _****fault, even though he did nothing of the sort. She is just sad and drunk and needs something to take her anger out on. In the past chapter, she was drunk and stays that way over the night. Karkat is upset about his dad leaving, but not nearly as his mom. **

**I'm sorry about not making and sense, but I hope this cleared it up! (Sorry this is short...)**

The next morning Karkat was jerked out of his sleep by the shrill vibrate of his phone.

"S-Sollux?" He stuttered, looking at the contact. _Oh thank gog, he'll know what to do._ "Hello?"

"Hey KK."

"What do you want, fuckass?" He snarled, flinching a bit as his words seared his throat.  
"Can I not call without a reathon?"

"Nope, now give me your reason before I hang up."

"John and Dave were wondering if we wanted to go to thith thitty amuthment park with them."

"Ok, I have to uh… Ask my mom, I'll call you back."

"Thure…" Sollux was left listening to silence as Karkat ran out to ask.

"Mom?"

"Yes sweetie?" She smiled at him, all of last night's attack forgotten.

"C-can I go hang out with some friends today?" Karkat stuttered, flinching slightly when she raised her hand to pat her hair.

"Of course you can!" She laughed, "Just remember what I said last night!" She flashed him a large, toothy grin before turning back to whatever she was doing.

"Yeah…" He backup out of the room, making a mad dash for the bathroom.

He slammed the door shut behind him and started water for a shower.

He stepped in, the water scorching spots on his back, his chest, his arms.

"Fuck!" He turned the water down, sighing as it cooled his damaged skin.

His hands were red and sore from all of last night's fighting and bruises were starting to blossom up and down his body.

He finished washing up and got out, wrapping a towel around him. His head felt heavier than usual, as if it was made of lead, and the throbbing headache he had didn't help one bit.

He took a side glance in the mirror, dark eyes widening as he took in the sight.

He neck was a sickly purple color, he could hardly speak. His hands ghosted over the spot as he choked on his own words.

Karkat ran back to his room and called Sollux, "Hey."

"Ith that a yeth?"

"Well she didn't say no."

"Then we'll come and get you, Dave ith driving."

"Fuck, that asshole douche is coming too?"

"Yeah… I told you that earlier…" Sollux muttered.

"Oh." Karkat ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to deal with the 'coolkid' right now.

"Tho then we'll thee you in like, twenty minuteth." Sollux hung up.

Karkat ran over to his dresser, trying to find something that would cover up his bruises.

_This will do…_ Karkat thought, he pulled out a black turtle neck and grey jeans. _Perfect._


	8. Chapter 8

**I woke up early today. Why would I do that? IT'S SUNDAY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.**

**Anyway, I know this is short. BUT do not fret! Another chapter (possibly, POSSIBLY, two) will also come out today. Merry Halloween. **

**:I**

"Come on KK!" Sollux whined, "Don't be a thcardy Kat!" Sollux glanced at the small 'haunted house' ride.  
"I already told you fucktards, I don't want to go!" Karkat yelled, digging his feet into the ground.  
"Come on! Pleathe? For me?" Sollux pleaded.  
"No fucking way, I would rather dye my hair pink!" Karkat glared at the parents who were giving him dirty looks as he shouted profanities.  
"Aww, but Karkat, this ride so cheesy you wouldn't get scared at all!" John tried to help persuade, but all he got was a hate-filled glare.  
"Who said I was scared, fuckass?" Karkat asked.  
"John, Sollux. Me." Dave joined in, having gotten slightly (and very much coolly) annoyed with the present conversation.  
"Who asked you, asshat?" Karkat locked eyes with Dave behind his sunglasses. Man, he thinks he's so cool. Fucking dumbass glasses.  
"So can we go on now? Please Karkat!" John begged, getting down on his knees.  
Karkat glared at the kneeling boy, "Fuck you, John."  
"Is that a yes?" John cheered, clapping his hands.  
"Fine, I'll go on the dumbshit ride with you. But I am not sitting next to Strider."  
"Cool with me." Dave strode into the line with John following him like a puppy.  
"Fuck you Strider!" Karkat yelled after them.  
"In your dreams." Dave called back, muffling a little smile as both Sollux and John attempted to contain their laughter.  
"I hate you. So, so much." Karkat's voice shook as he glared at Dave.  
"Not last night you didn't" Dave almost smiled as the parents, and a few of the kids, gave Karkat astonished looks.  
"Quit doing that!" Karkat fumed flashing his middle finger high for all to see.  
"Jethuth KK, jutht relax, he'th only trying to get under your thkin." Sollux stated, stepping into line.  
"Shut your fucking mouth you useless shitsponge."  
"Tho Mr. Egderp can convinthe you to go, but I can't? I'm hurt KK, hurt…" Sollux smiled at him.  
"Fuck. Asses." Karkat emphasized. "I wonder what kind of thing I did to deserve such an awful best friend."  
"Aw… Come on KK, we're not that bad. Well, motht of the time…"


	9. Chapter 9

**These chapters are so short... I'm sorry! T-T Don't shoot!**

**I'll have another one up later today! DON'T SHOOT! T-T**

**Man, I hate haunted houses. Even the cheesy, baby, crappy, stupid, not-scary ones. ALL OF THEM.**

"There will be a slight delay due to technical problems, ten minutes maximum. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope you enjoy the rest of your day." The gangly teenage boy running the ride slurred into the microphone.  
"Fuck!" Karkat mentally punched the air. Yes! Let's delay this helltrap!  
"Fuck!" Sollux mimicked, "Damn it! We were next!"  
"Whoops, sorry, I guess we'll just have to get the fuck outta here and go do something else! Let's go." Karkat yanked on Sollux's arm, trying to pull him out of line.  
"No KK! We've made it thith far, we can't turn back now!" Sollux recited the line as if he had been practicing it.  
"Hey losers." Dave came up behind them, ruffling their hair like Karkat always did to Terezi.  
"Fuck off Strider." Karkat yelled.  
"Karkat! Quit cursing, there are other people here!" John furrowed his eyebrows, giving his friend a scolding.  
"Whatever fuckass, I do what I want."  
"KK, lithen to Thrider and Egbert! Ith not fucking nithe to fucking thwear around other fucking people!" Sollux laughed.  
"Well you know what." Karkat started, putting his face close to Sollux's.  
"I'm not thcared of you, you nubthurping fuckpod." Sollux smiled smugly, his dumb dual-colored glasses obscuring his eyes. Oh how badly he wanted to close the gap between them. How badly he wanted to tangle his fingers in Karkat's sleek, black hair.  
Sollux's train of thought was interrupted by Karkat's loud yell, "Go to hell!"  
"Thee you there…" Sollux whispered in his ear.  
"Not if I see you first! Wait…"  
"Attention guests, the ride is up and running again. Thank you for your patience and enjoy the ride." A garble voice rang out through the speakers.  
"Come on KK, our turn!" Sollux waved behind them, watching as John and Dave went to find some other ride.  
Why is it always me? Karkat thought, "Fuck you Captor. Fuck Strider, and Egbert too."  
"You tho would." Sollux stepped into the little car they had to share, patting the seat next to him.  
The girl helping run the station giggled softly, trying to stifle it with her sleeve.  
"Oh, so you think that's funny?" Karkat snapped at her, sliding into the car.  
She quickly turned her head away and pressed the start button for them after they were settled in.  
"En-enjoy the ride." She squeaked, biting her lip as Karkat glared at her.  
"Thith is fucking thupid." Sollux groaned.  
"What the fuck is this lame shit? That looks so fucking fake, I can't even look at it." Karkat's voice shook.  
They passed cheesy little moving pictures and crappy-looking cobwebs.  
"Here we go." Sollux put his hands over his ears, looking around with a bored expression on his face.  
"Sollux? Why are you covering your ears? What the fuck is going on!" Karkat's body visibly shook.  
Sollux just rolled his eyes.  
"S-sol?" Karkat whispered, his face white in the dim lighting.  
The picture at the end of the hall let out a high-pitched scream.  
And Karkat lost it.


	10. Chapter 10

**This would have been up last night but bluh bluh bluh. My sister is a lazy derp-head. Since she must use MY computer instead of hers WHICH IS THE EXACT SAME I'm going to break something.**

**ANYWAY:**

**Wicked is a ride at a local amusement park that I love! It's really fast and goes straight up (slowly) fifty feet then drops fifty feet really fast and does all these upside-down swirly fun things! SO FUN. If you look it up... You will find (maybe, mwhahaha) a picture of it. (it's in the story, just in case you were like: WTF I don't care about this)**

"Sollux!" Karkat screamed, he slammed his face into Sollux's chest and wrapped his arms around the skinny boy.  
"Jethuth KK! Whath wrong?"  
Karkat was shaking; his chest heaved up and down as he tried to calm himself.  
"KK? Are you okay?" Sollux patted his back, rubbing his hand up and down.  
"No! Fuck you Sollux I am not okay!"  
I'm thorry KK...  
"Get me off, get me off, get me off! Get me the fuck off of this!" Karkat screamed.  
Oh my god, ith all my fault heth like thith. I thouldn't have made him come on here.  
Tears dripped onto Sollux's shirt, making the black fabric darker where they hit.  
"Karkat?"  
"Is it over?"  
"No, I'm thorry, not yet."  
"Make it stop..." Karkat's voice trembled, his hands clenching Sollux's in fear.  
"I can't."  
"Yes you can! Just make it fucking stop!"  
Karkat trembled in Sollux's grip as they neared the end.  
"Look, we're almost at the exit!"  
Karkat quickly rubbed his eyes, his scowl settling back on his face.  
"That was fucking stupid!" Karkat yelled as he ran out, his glare somewhat softer than usual.  
"Yeah..." Sollux frowned.  
Karkat looked down, glad his bangs were still long enough to cover his eyes.  
"Not too scary I hope!" John bounced up to him, a big, toothy smile plastered on his face.  
"No." Karkat snapped quickly, too quickly, "Why would it be scary? That thing only scares babies."  
"Sure..." Sollux's brow furrowed, his polychromatic eyes narrowing behind dual-colored glasses.  
"Whatever dude, I bet you can't handle Wicked! That thing is so freaky!" John teased.  
"You're on, shithead!" Karkat started racing John over to the ride.  
"Stop having fun, Vantas!" Dave yelled after them, catching up in a few cool-guy strides.  
Sollux started to follow, pondering what had just happened. What the fuck KK?  
Why are you tho thcared? And why the fuck are you in a turtleneck in the middle of thummer?

They went on many rides, stocking up on junk food every now and then.  
"Ooh! We should play some games!" John suggested, glancing at all the little booths scattered around the theme park.  
"Sure." Dave agreed.  
John looked at Karkat and Sollux, pleading through his eyes.  
"Fine I'll go!" Sollux laughed.  
"Karkat?" John begged.  
"Fine, just quick your ass-kissing, I'll play."  
"Yay!" John squealed, dragging them over to a balloon-dart game.  
"Let's beat this fucker." Karkat cracked his knuckles.  
"I'll have um..." John looked at Karkat, "Three games!"  
"Sure." The tired-looking worker handed John six darts, taking the money he handed her in exchange.  
"Here Karkat!" John gave his grumpy friend three darts, "Let's play!"  
"No, I can really pay for my own!" Karkat said.  
"It's okay, I want you to have them!" John held the darts out, "Please?"  
"Fuck you." Karkat snatched them from his grip.  
"Aww..." John frowned, his first dart just hitting the wall.  
"Just try again, that shot was fucking rigged anyway." Karkat said.  
"Okay Karkat!" John threw another dart, it bounced off of a balloon and hit the floor. "Gosh darn it!"  
"Give me your last dart John." Karkat held his hand out.  
"Okay?"  
He threw the dart; it hit a baby blue balloon. He threw another; it hit another balloon, the same for the last two shots.  
"Pick your prize, you can have two smalls or a medium." The booth-lady droned.  
"What are you going to pick Karkat?" John asked.  
"I don't know, I didn't want a fucking prize, you can have it."  
"Really?"  
"Sure, why don't you get that salamander thing." Karkat pointed to the yellow salamander, it was strung up on the top of the booth along with twenty others of its kind.  
"Okay!" John beamed as the lady handed him his toy.  
"What are you going to name it?" Karkat asked him.  
"Huh?" John turned to Karkat with a confused expression on his face.  
"Name. It. I'm not going to repeat every fucking thing I say." Karkat clenched his jaw, the ghost of a smile tickling his lips.  
"Oh! I don't know…" John pondered.  
"Come on, don't you have a favorite move character or something?" Karkat raised an eyebrow.  
"I guess I do! I'll name it Casey!" John squealed, beaming from ear to ear.  
"I thought so." Karkat smiled, hardly even a twitch of his lip, but it was a smile none the less.

I love you KK. Sollux thought as he saw the smile. I wish you knew…


	11. Chapter 11

**Wow guys, you're great! 15 favorites? 37 reviews? 24 followers? Over 2,000 views? I just want to thank you for that! When I first posted this (my friend convinced me) I didn't think that anyone would read it! But boy, did I get proved wrong, and I am ****_so _****glad about that! WOOOO! Go smiles! :D**

**Do you know how happy your reviews have been making me? VERY HAPPY. I just want to thank each and every one of you for reviewing, faving, following, reading, looking, everything! Thank you so much for your support, it means a lot!**

**And I've realized that I've made John kind of OOC... And maybe some of the other characters, I hope you don't mind!**

"Man guys, that was so fun!" John skipped over to the exit, happily hugging his salamander, Casey.  
"Cool day." Dave said.  
"I gueth it wath pretty fun." Sollux added.  
"Fucking great." Karkat rolled his eyes and stuck his hands into his pockets.  
"We should all come over to my house tonight!" John suggested.  
"I would, but I promised TZ I'd take her out tonight." Dave shrugged.  
"What the fuck?" Karkat sputtered, "When did this happen?"  
"Earlier." Dave smoothly strode through the exit.  
"Ooh! Are you two going out now?" John smiled, a big, bucktoothed smile and looked up at Dave like he was his hero.  
"I guess." Dave shrugged again.  
"That's so cute! You two would be such an adorably couple, I knew you would click the first time you met! I'm so happy for yo—."  
"Great John, it's cool that you're happy. Now tone it down, don't be uncool." Dave droned.  
"You could show some emotion sometimes too, you know!" John pouted, falling into step next to Dave.  
"Well fuck you Strider!" Karkat yelled, "And fuck her too, I hope you have bucket-loads of fun!"  
"Karkat!" John scolded, "Stop cursing around the children!"  
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! And fuck them too!" Karkat yelled even louder.  
"Jethuth KK." Sollux sneered, "Happy aren't we?"  
"Shut your mouth, fuckass." Karkat snapped.  
"I'm not the one yelling at hith friendth over nothing!" Sollux yelled back.  
"Oh, are we fighting now?" Karkat suggested very loudly.  
"Maybe we are!" Sollux clenched his fists and towered over Karkat, using his height to his advantage.  
"Guys, guys, stop it! You don't have to fight!" John stepped in between them, glancing from friend to friend.  
"Be cool." Dave said.  
"Um… So are you coming back to my place then?" John sheepishly tried to change the subject.  
"Terezi, remember?" Dave light thumped John's head.  
"Well what about you two?" John turned to the still fuming Karkat.  
"Sure, fuckass." Anything but go home.  
"I can't thorry, I have to do thith computer thing with my dad tonight." Sollux apologized.  
"Oh that's fine, it'll just be me and Karkat then!" John smiled down at Karkat.  
"Ok, cool." Karkat blushed, walking towards their car and keeping his face out of sight.  
"Thoundth like thomeone'th exthited!" Sollux whispered in Karkat's ear.  
"Shut your damn mouth before I shut it for you." Karkat grumbled, blushing darker.  
"Whatever you thay Mr. Grumpy panth!" Sollux yelled.  
"Just us then, that's okay! We could watch a movie, play monopoly…" John wondered aloud.  
"We could watch a movie, I fucking love movies." Karkat suggested.  
"Alright! We can watch a movie!" John hugged Karkat from behind and pressed his face into his back.  
"Yeah…" Karkat smiled again, making a record for two in a day.

**Again, sorry these chapters are so short!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Being home alone at night is kinda scary, not usually, but there might be aliens in my backyard and I feel like I'm being watched...**

**This one's longer I promise. **

**WARNING: May contain JohnKat, but that's okay, because this is STILL A SOLKAT DON'T WORRY.**

"See you Sollux!" John waved out the open window.  
"Bye guyth." Sollux called back.  
"Later, fuckass!" Karkat flashed his friend the finger before slouching down in the back seat.  
Dave nodded in his general direction before driving away to drop them at John's place.  
"Bye, Dave! Thanks for driving us!" John smiled at Dave before getting out at his house.  
"Yeah." Karkat grumbled and rolled his eyes.  
"Later." Dave drove off, leaving the two of them in John's front yard.  
"Let's go inside, I don't think that my dad is home yet." John smiled; he grabbed Karkat's hand and yanked him towards the door.  
"John!" Karkat squealed as he almost fell.  
"Whoops, sorry Karkat!"  
"Just open the fucking door, it's starting to rain." Karkat blushed in the almost-darkness, glad John was too preoccupied with opening the door to notice.  
"Ok, I did, come on in!" John kicked his shoes of in the foyer, ignoring the plethora of harlequin dolls right inside.  
"Let's go make popcorn." Karkat suddenly suggested, leaving his red converse next to John's blue ones.  
"Okay!" John dragged Karkat into his kitchen. "Aw man!"  
"What?" Karkat looked in the direction of John's somewhat irritating whine, "It's just a fucking cake, no one died over it."  
"No! It's a Batterwitch cake!" John cried, "I can't even look at it!"  
"Jegus relax. I'll fucking get rid of it if you so fucking desire." Karkat went over to the cake and picked it up.  
"Oh thank you!" John sighed.  
Karkat threw the cake in the trash, "Waste of cake."  
"Hey there's a note from my dad!" John went over to the table where the cake had previously sat, "Dear John, I hope that you enjoy this cake. I am so proud of you, you're a great son. Love, Dad."  
"That was the biggest load of shit I've ever heard in my whole fucking life." Karkat sighed.  
"He does that a lot, he should really stop spending our money on cake." John pouted and pulled out an unpopped bag of popcorn from his cupboard.  
"Yum, salty, buttery goodness." Karkat retreated to the living room to go and pick out a movie.  
"Are you getting a movie?" John asked after he had placed the popcorn into the microwave.  
"No I'm lighting your shit on fire, what else do you think I could be fucking doing?" Karkat snapped.  
"Whoa, whoa, let's not light anything on fire again!" John teased.  
"That was one fucking time, I'm not going to do it again, fuckass!" Karkat rolled his eyes as he made his way over to John's selection of Nicolas Cage and various other horrible movies.  
"Haha, sure Karkat!" John pulled the popcorn out of the microwave and gently set in on the counter. And by gently I mean he ripped it out of the microwave and threw it onto the counter as to not get burned by the heat rising from it.  
"Fuck you. And fuck your movies too, these suck." Karkat whined.  
"Then bring one next time!" John laughed as he poured the popcorn into a bowl.  
"Why don't we just fucking watch National Treasure again." Karkat pulled the movie out and placed it into the DVD player.  
"I do like National Treasure…" John sighed, "When Nic Cage steals the Declaration of Independence… Still not as good as Con Air though."  
"Well we've watched Con Air about a billion fucking times so we are not watching it again." Karkat turned John's TV on and watched the opening credits play.  
"Here, have some popcorn!" John offered, getting totally absorbed in the shitty movie.  
"Sure…"  
Karkat could not tear his eyes away from John's face. Good thing he was entranced by the movie, otherwise he probably would have said something about it.  
_The soft curve of his jaw line… The smooth sweep of his hair._ Karkat gulped slightly as his thoughts started to get off track. _Fuck, stop thinking about him!_  
"Karkat?" John asked, having heard him swallow.  
"Uh…" Karkat averted his eyes back to the TV, "Isn't this your favorite part, look they're wiring up the computer thing and saying some important shit."  
"Ooh, but I love the whole movie!"  
"Fuck." Karkat breathed.  
He spent the rest of the movie entranced by John's reactions and encouraging statements towards the characters.  
"That was great. I swear, it gets better every time!" John clapped as the movie's end credits flew across the screen.  
"Fuck." Karkat jolted out of his John-induced stupor.  
"What?" John asked.  
Their bodies were uncomfortably close, Karkat having slid nearer to John discreetly when he wasn't noticing.  
"I uh…" Karkat sputtered.  
"Yeah? Whatever, I'm going to put another one in." John stood up and walked over to his movie selection.  
"John wait!" Karkat inhaled sharply. _This is it, I'm gonna do it. I'm going to tell John exactly how I feel._  
"Yes?" John turned around and looked at Karkat.  
"I… Um… I want to tell you something." Karkat mumbled.  
"Well then just tell me!" John sighed.  
"I uh, fuck, it's just that," Karkat began.  
"Karkat." John's eyes widened. "Don't say it."  
"But John, I can't hide these feelings anymore!" Karkat groaned, exasperated.  
"Oh no! I didn't want this to happen, damn it!" John frowned and looked down at the ground.  
"Wait, what the fuck do you think I'm saying?" Karkat asked.  
"You don't like Nicolas Cage, oh I knew it!" John cried, "I'm sorry I made you go through all of this, we can watch a different movie if you'd like! I have adventures, comedies, horro—"  
"No, that's not it! Fuck, I don't know how to say this." Karkat bit his lip and walked over to John.  
"Just spit it out, it's probably not as big of a deal as you're making it seem!" John smiled at Karkat.  
Karkat barreled into him and pretty much crushed John's ribcage with his hug.  
"Whoa hey what are yofffmmppprrrttt." John's lips were smashed down upon by Karkat's.  
_What are you doing?_ Karkat thought to himself.  
"Karkat, get off of me!" John yelled, his voice muffled by Karkat's lips on his.  
Karkat pulled back a little and released some of the balled up fabric of John's shirt he hadn't remembered grabbing.  
"Karkat?" John whimpered, "I am not a homosexual."  
_Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, what am I doing? I should've just fucking told him instead of doing this. _Karkat glanced up and John's shocked expression_. Fuck, he looks so cute when he's in shock._  
Karkat mashed their lips together a second time.  
"Karkat!" John squeaked as hands crept up his shirt.  
"Sh…" _What the fuck is wrong with me?_  
"Stop that, no, I-I don't like this!" John grimaced as Karkat's fingers lightly traced the contours of his chest. Something he had only ever dreamt of.  
_He doesn't like it!_ Karkat's voice screamed inside of his head. _Fucking stop!_  
But he didn't, he just pressed their lips together for a third time.  
"Karkat, no!" John yelled, he pushed Karkat off of him and stared down at his smaller (but definitely stronger) friend.  
"John I…" Karkat whispered. _Fuck, what have I done?_ Karkat scrambled back, away from John and bolted out the door.  
"Karkat wait!" John called after him, trying to follow but making no progress in the pouring rain.  
_Fuck, I've really screwed it up this time._ Karkat ran home as fast as he could, forgetting all about what was probably waiting for him.


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm really groggy and weird right now. I didn't realize how much time I had spent on this and how many words I wrote! I think this is the longest chapter yet! :D** **I got really into this... I bit too far into this... **

**Dave is too cool for Pokemon.**

John stood outside his door, his eyes still wide open with shock.

_What just happened?_ He thought, he squinted through the rain but Karkat's blurry figure had already disappeared.

"I'm sorry… I just don't feel that way." John whispered to no one in particular.

He fell to his knees on the cement walkway and stared at his hands. _Do I?_

_No, I don't feel that way. I like Vriska, not Karkat. _John laughed a shaky laugh and turned back into his house.

"Fuck, that was stupid." Karkat muttered and kicked a rock into a nearby gutter. It's empty clanking noise muffled by the pounding rain.

_What am I still doing out here? _Karkat thought, a mixture of rain and tears dripped down his face.

He looked up into the grey sky. _It matches my feelings._ _I don't deserve someone like John._

He blinked away more rain as it fell into his eyes; he aimlessly wandered around outside trying to put as much distance between him and John. _I should just go home._

Karkat shoved his hands into his soaking wet pockets and started the trek home.

Karkat was walking home. He was taking small, pitiful steps towards his house. Unlucky for him, he was just so happened to pass a certain girl's house. A certain girl in which he most certainly did _not _want to talk to right now.

"Hey dad?" Vriska called from her front window.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to go outside." She kept her eyes locked on the slowly retreating figure just outside her window.

"Don't catch a cold." He gruffly yelled after her as she leapt up, grabbed an umbrella, and ran outside.

"Karkat?" She yelled over the rain.

The figure whipped around and widened his eyes, "Vriska?"

"Yes it's me, who were you expecting?" She rolled her eyes and squelched her way over to him.

"I don't know…" He looked down at the small stream that had formed from the rain.

"Well you seem super peppy today!" She smiled at him.

"Shut your fucking trap Vriska, I am not in the mood." Karkat snapped at her.

"Well, well, well… Mr. Vantas, Mr. I-am-so-much-better-than-you is having a not so good day." Vriska laughed under her dark blue umbrella, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Fuck off Vriska, I don't want to talk to you." Karkat turned his back to her and continued slogging along in the rain.

"Aw… Come on, I am not that bad all of the time. Just tell me what happened." Vriska crooned, she ran over to him and put the umbrella over his head too. It sure helped that he was shorter than her.

"No. I don't want to fucking talk about it." Karkat snarled, he gruffly pushed her away from him and continued at his slow pace.

"Please? I didn't get my shoes soaked for nothing, the matching ones too!" Vriska noted that their shoes were the same, both red converse.

"Why the fuck do we have the same shoes?" Karkat droned, turning towards her once again.

"I don't know who bought them first and I didn't notice until now!" Vriska sang, her voice sharp through the thick veil of water.

"Are you fucking mocking me?" Karkat pushed her away from him again and walked faster through the water.

"Karkat!" She whined, "Just tell me! I'll leave you alone!"

"Fine." Karkat slowed down and waited for her to catch up.

"So, get me up to date. What are your latest headlines?" Vriska looked down at Karkat, mentally taking notes to tell everyone about everything that he said. She was the gossip queen after all, she would make sure that everyone knew. Including Pyrope.

"John rejected me." Karkat sniffled.

"What?" Vriska gasped, "You had a thing for him?"

"Fuck, I didn't say that!" Karkat widened his eyes and pulled on his still-wet shirt collar.

"I didn't know that!" She grinned evilly, wait until Strider got a hold of _that _news. He would be all up on Karkat's shit. He and John _were _best friends after all. "Tell me more!"

"No! Now fuck off, I told you, now leave me alone." Karkat pushed her away from him for a third time and retreated into the rain.

"But Karkat, if you don't express your emotions then one day you might explode! Like a big, emotion-filled ballon!"

"Then I hope I fucking explode." Karkat flipped her off.

"Bye Karkat!" She smirked. _What a lovely load of gossip… Might as well make it juicier…_ She laughed.

"Fuck you Serket!" He yelled back at her.

"Dumb bitch." Karkat grumbled, "I shouldn't have said anything, now she'll twist and morph it into something freaky."

His shoes were filled to the brim with water now, and he was not happy. Not like he wasn't happy before, he should've just called him mom to come and get him.

_Fuck. _Karkat remembered why he was wearing a turtleneck, why he was wearing fucking winter clothes in the middle of summer. And suddenly, he didn't want to go home.

He stopped mid-step. _What now?_ He couldn't go over to John's place, not Vriska, he didn't _want _to go over to Nepeta's or Gamzee's. _Sollux._

He fumbled in his pockets for his phone. _Thank goodness it isn't broken from the water._ He clumsily punched in the number and put the phone to his ear.

"Hi, you've reached Thollux Captor. Thorry I couldn't get to the phone right now, pleathe leave your name and your reathon and I jutht might call you back." Sollux's voicemail.

"Hey Sol, it's me," Karkat said into the slightly water-clogged speaker, "Karkat. Could you call me back if you ever get the chance? And my reason would take too fucking long to explain over this and probably cut me the fuck off so if you call me back then I can fucking tell you."

He snapped his phone shut and sat down on a nearby bench.

"Arg!" He yelled at the sky, "Why can't something just go right for me?"

He buried his head in his hands and let loose the few feelings he did have, right there in public. Although no one was out, it was late and it was raining. The few streetlights didn't do much in the grey glow cast about by the probably setting sun. It was summer, so it didn't set until really late.

"Fuck the world!" Karkat sobbed into his hands. "I hate everything!"

_Why are you so sad? There are other people out there who are worse off than you, you're just a pathetic excuse for a boy, there's nothing special about you. What good are you to society? You're just a blemish on the face of humanity, just another disposable human._

The voices in his head were right, you know. Well, at least Karkat thought so.

"Maybe I am!" He sobbed again, letting his emotions flow out of him all at once.

_Fuck, maybe the voice in my head is right. Maybe I am just another disposable human._

Karkat remembered a time when life wasn't so hard on him, a time where they could all just laugh and relax, a time when he felt _normal_, when the worst of his problems were just silly kid things.

_"Haha, look! It's lookin' at me!" Eridan squealed._

_"Whoa, it's eyeth are tho funny!" Sollux mimicked the facial expressions of the 'silly lizard' as Karkat had called it._

_"Hey!" Feferi pouted, "Don't be mean to my dragon!"_

_"I wathn't being mean, it hath cool eyeth, like me!" Sollux laughed as the bearded dragon made another weird face at him._

_"This is stupid." Karkat sat in the corner, away from the large group of friends. He hardly knew anyone except for Feferi and Jade. And Dave, but he didn't like Dave._

_"Come over here and look at it Karkat!" Feferi reached a hand down to Karkat._

_"No." Karkat pushed her hand away and brought his knees up to his chest._

_"Please?" Feferi gave him the puppy-dog look, "For me?"_

_"No, I said no. Now go away." Karkat whined._

_"But it's my birthday! I want you to have fun!" Feferi reached her hand out again._

_Karkat looked around at all of his friends having a good time, even Eridan seemed to be enjoying himself._

_"I guess so…" Karkat grumbled._

_"Yay! Come on, let's go look at my dragon!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the glass cage._

_"I guess he is kinda cute…" Karkat smiled at the reptile. "What's his name?"_

_"Oh! His name is King Louis!" Feferi beamed at him._

_"That's a weird name. I'm going to call him… Charmander." Karkat giggled shyly, something he did more often when he was younger._

_"Hey you like Pokemon?" Sollux looked at him with multi-colored eyes._

_"Yeah I like Pokemon." Karkat snorted, "Who doesn't?"_

_"That lother over there ith who." Sollux pointed over his shoulder at Dave, "It'th 'too cool' for him if I remember right."_

_"Oh, I don't like him." Karkat wrinkled his nose in disgust. This was the kid who had destroyed all of his projects in class, who had whacked his lunch out of his hands multiple times, who had stolen his best friend Jade._

_"Really? Whath hith name? We didn't get to talk much after I thaid I liked Pokemon." Sollux looked back at Dave who was sipping on a juice box while Jade followed him like a puppy._

_"His name is Dave, he's stupid." Karkat said bluntly, "You shouldn't talk to him, he's not very nice."_

_"I wathn't planning on it. My name ith Thollux by the way." He held his hand out._

_Karkat stared at it, contemplating whether or not he would shake, "I'm Karkat." He shook it._

_"How do you know FF?" Sollux asked._

_"FF?"_

_"Oh, thath my nickname for her thorry, Feferi."_

_"We go to afterschool together, how do you know her?"_

_"We go to the thame thchool. You thould really go to it!" Sollux suggested._

_"I was thinking about that, maybe next year." Karkat shrugged._

_"You really thould! That would be awethome!" Sollux smiled at him._

He has really weird eyes and weird way of talking. I like him._ Karkat thought._

_"Let's go steal Dave's juice box." Karkat furrowed his eyebrow as Dave sipped his juice. "He's too happy right now."_

_"Really?" Sollux raised an eyebrow._

_"Yeah, come on!" Karkat stood up._

_"Ok!"_

_ They ran over and knocked the juice right out of Dave's hand._

Karkat smiled, oh the memories. That was the first day he met Sollux, at Feferi's ninth birthday party. Although he had heard plenty about Sollux at afterschool, Karkat thought he was awesome from the start. All because he hated Dave, just like him.

He sat in the rain and remembered what Dave had said while they were feeding Feferi's bearded dragon.

_"They're just stupid crickets, there are like a bazillion of them." Dave shrugged._

_"No! I feel bad about killing them!" Karkat pouted._

_"But there are just more, it won't matter if we kill a few." Dave placed them into King Louis' cage. Excuse me, Charmander's cage._

_"There are just more humans! It won't matter if we killed a few!" Karkat yelled, Dave went silent._

_"No it wouldn't. There would just be more, it wouldn't matter." Dave shrugged again._

_Karkat couldn't tell what Dave was really thinking because of his dumb sunglasses, "What if it was your dad, or your mom?"_

_"I don't have a dad or a mom." Dave replied._

_"What?" Karkat gasped, everyone had a dad or a mom._

_"I live with my brother." Dave walked off, leaving the crickets to their imminent doom._

Karkat laughed. _They're just humans, it won't matter if we killed a few._ _Yeah, sure._ Karkat wouldn't mind if some humans had died, although he preferred not to think about that.

He really didn't hate anyone. He just would prefer not to be near them.

The only person he really hated right now was himself, for not standing up and defending himself or Sollux whenever they got bullied. He didn't even really hate his mom all that much right now.

_Just wait… Sollux will call back soon._

He hoped.


	14. Chapter 14

**Bahhh I have a headache. BAHHHH. ****_BAHHHHH. _****Enjoy!**

"…kat…" Someone called.

"…arkat…"

"Karkat!" The shrill shriek of his mother's voice jolted him awake.

_Did I fall asleep on the bench?_ Karkat wondered.

"What are you doing?" She smacked him across the face, "You could have been killed!"

Karkat sniffed, "I don't know, I was… Waiting for someone."

"And you're soaked to the bone too! I'll bet you have a cold, get in the car!" She barked at him.

Karkat's eyes widened, "Why? I can just keep waiting here."

"No, really! I insist!" Her voice icy, sharp.

"Fuck, uh… I should really just stay right here!" Karkat whimpered.

"Get. In. The. Car." Her voice shook, "Now."

Karkat gulped, there was no way he could keep up this charade much longer. Especially not with her looking at him as if she could see his soul. "Okay."

"Good." She roughly yanked Karkat up from the bench and dragged him to her car.

Meanwhile, Karkat's phone clattered to the ground, unnoticed by either in the pounding rain.

"Dad, KK ithn't anthwering!" Sollux stormed around his house.

"How many times did you call?" Mr. Captor asked behind his newspaper.

"I don't know, thome?" Sollux shrugged.

"Maybe he went to bed." He suggested.

"No, I don't think that he would go to bed thith early. It ith thummer after all, not like he hath to get up early for thomething."

"Did he say to call him?"

"Yeth! He did, and it thounded important!" Sollux yelled. He threw his phone across the room in frustration.

"Why don't you go get some rest, you're becoming a bit impatient."

"I don't thee how that would help!" Sollux snapped.

"When you wake up, call him again." His dad answered.

"That. Ith a good idea." Sollux resumed breathing at a normal pace, unaware that had become a bit flustered.

"See, now why don't you go to bed, and when you wake up I'll remind you."

"Okay. Goodnight dad…" Sollux slowly trudged up the stairs to his room. _I hope everything ith okay…_

"What the _fuck _is wrong with you?" She screeched once they got home.

Her hair was dripping wet and her eyes ablaze with fury.

"W-what?" Karkat mumbled, just as wet as her, if not more.

"You leave without my permission, then just go and decide to sleep on a _bench _in the _pouring rain_?"

"I did ask for your permission, and you said yes!" Karkat pleaded.

She glared down at him, "I don't think so."

Karkat trembled in fear, what was going to happen to him? "Please don't…"

"Don't? Don't?" Her voice cracked, "I was so worried! You know how much you mean to me, please!"

"Mom…" Karkat breathed.

"Tell me you love me."

"I love you." He whispered.

Her eyes welled up with tears, "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Liar." She growled.

"What? No, I'm not lying!"

"You little shit!" She yelled, "Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not lying, I swear!" Karkat flinched out of the way as she threw a picture frame at him. The glass shattered into fragments. A picture of baby Karkat with both of his parents, smiling and happy. Something that would never picture their family again.

"Oh?" She smiled.

Karkat shivered, both from the cold and the hatred behind her glare.

"Are you cold? My poor baby." She spat.

Karkat shuddered, despite his body's protests to stay still, to think warm, happy thoughts.

"I can help with that." She grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the kitchen.

Karkat tried to wriggle out of her grip. Fear was clutching at his heart, his eyes were opened wide to scan every possible escape.

But she was too strong. Inhumanly strong, much stronger than Karkat.

"You cold?" She laughed, her hysteria rising, "I can help. I will always be here to help you."

She turned on the burner on the stove and pulled her son's hand close to it.

"I will help you!" She shrieked.

Everything went by in slow motion.

_Grab her hand, grab her arm, grab her hair. Get something! Think fast Karkat, what are her weak points? _Karkat grabbed a fistful of dark brown hair with his free hand and pulled hard.

She screamed in pain and dropped his wrist.

"Karkat!" She screeched, "Come back and let me help you!"

"No, you're fucking crazy!" He kicked a chair behind him and tumbled forward into the dining room.

"Karkat Vantas!" She grabbed a plate and threw it at him.

It hit him square in the back and he howled in pain.

"Don't. You. Lie. To. Me." She breathed right in his face. "Go to your room."

"Y-yes mother…" Karkat's voice shook; he ran down the hall and locked himself in his room as quickly as he could.

_What should I do now? I can't stay here, I have to go, I have to get help. Sollux! I bet he's called back by now._

He reached into his still-damp pocket for his phone, but it wasn't there.

"Karkat…" His mom slammed into the door, "Open up…"

"I'm changing!" He yelled.

"I'm your mom." She crooned sweetly.

"But that's still weird." He laughed out of nervous jitters. He was really fucked now.

"Karkat you open this door right now, or I will lock you in there!" She pounded on the door again.

"No thanks, I'm good." He called back.

"Fine, we'll play your way." She whispered, to low for him to hear through the door.

Karkat may have been able to lock it from the inside, but she could lock it from the outside.

"Have a nice night sweetheart." She smiled to herself. _And a nice morning._

Karkat was locked in his room, and he didn't have a clue as to what she was going to do next.


	15. Chapter 15

**You guys are great, love you! ****_Why is it raining so much?_**** It doesn't rain here. Ever. It's so dry. I live in space, duh. It can't rain cause there's no atmosphere. ****_*_****dies from lack of air***

**FUCK THIS SHIT. *flips table***

_**This story is going to kill me.**_**_Ahhhhhh! I'm going to cry, I felt so much in this, I hope you do too. T-T_**

**Enjoy:**

_I might as well get some sleep._ Karkat thought. He quickly changed out of his sopping-wet clothes and into his crab pajamas.

He settled into bed, and waited.

_It was raining outside. Again. Like it has been every other day this year, unlike last year. Last year was so dry._

_He stepped onto the sidewalk, off of the squishy, squelchy grass he had been standing on._

_There was a dark, blurry figure on the other side of the road. If only he could just make out a face though the rain._

_"Hello?" Karkat's usually loud voice was muted by the rain, "Excuse me!"_

_He had to know who this guy was, and he was certain he was a guy. He had a gut feeling._

_The man looked over to Karkat, and tipped his hat. He was dressed fancy, too fancy for just waiting under an umbrella in the rain. There was something missing, something more to this puzzle._

If I could just see his face…_ Karkat thought._

_"Hey, sir!" Karkat yelled again._

_The man politely tipped his hat and continued waiting. Waiting for what? A bus, perhaps?_

_Karkat stepped across the street, not bothering to look across for oncoming traffic. But in this weather, how was anyone supposed to stop? Especially when he was dressed so dark._

Honk, honk!_ The horn blared right in Karkat's ears, so far the only thing that penetrated the thick veil of water hovering all around them._

_Karkat could only turn, in slow motion, as the bus came closer to him._

Who is that driving?_ Karkat's mind ran the same speed, but it was as if his feet were glued to the ground. The crazed look and mop of dark brown hair told him that his suspicions were correct._

_Suddenly, he was back on the sidewalk. He watched as his best friend collided with the bus._

"Sollux!" Karkat screamed. He jolted up and gripped his heart; it was beating as fast as if he had just ran a mile at full speed.

Karkat took a deep breath and held it in. He let it out, along with a great big sob.

He put his head in his hands and cried, he let loose all of the feelings he suddenly felt. He cried for Sollux and his mental problems, he cried about John, he cried for every mean thing Dave had done and said to him, he cried about everyone he knew, and he cried for himself.

_Dad. _Karkat thought. _That's who it was. It was dad. He was waiting for me in the rain. He should be here, not me. I'm not supposed to be here._

_I'm not supposed to be here._ This thought ran through Karkat's head over and over.

_You're a loser._

_Fuckass._

_Mean._

_Insulting._

_Asshat._

_Stupid._

_Useless._

_Dumbshit._

_I hate you._

_I wish you would just go away._

_Can't you just leave me alone?_

_Get out of my life._

_I'm not sorry._

His body wracked with sobs as he remembered every mean thing he had said to his friends.

He was sorry, so sorry. To John, to Dave, to Sollux, to Nepeta, to Gamzee, to Vriska. To everyone who had ever met him. He was sorry they had to have the utter misfortune of meeting him, of knowing him.

"I'm sorry!" He wailed, he curled into himself and cried himself dry.

He cried until to tears would come, then he cried even longer.


	16. Chapter 16

**I am in the zone. My mom came in and yelled at me for being up too late cause I have school tomorrow, so I said, "Creativity doesn't have a bedtime." Then continued writing. She was mad, but she let me be.**

**Let's hope nothing bad comes out of this.**

Karkat eventually drifted back into an uneasy slumber. His eyes were still red and puffy, lined with tracks of tears.

_No more bad dreams…_ _Please…_

But what dream could be worse than waking up?

"Karkat!" The witch rapped on his door, pulling him out from his stupor.

Karkat blinked groggily, he didn't want to wake up today. He didn't want to wake up ever.

He blearily went to his door and tried the handle, it was locked. _Oh well. I guess I'll just stay in here today. I guess I could try the window._

Too bad his window didn't open. _I guess I could just break it._ But really, what was the point of that?

Karkat didn't glare; he didn't scowl down at the floor. He just stared blankly out the window. He stared, and he absorbed the fact that he was alive, he was glad.

_Who am I kidding? No one wants me here. What's my purpose?_

"Karkat?" His mom asked through the door, "How are you? I heard you screaming last night but I didn't want to disrupt."

Karkat didn't answer.

He hear the lock click as she unlocked the door from the outside, however, it was still locked from Karkat's side.

"There's some bread on the counter if you want it. I'm going to go to work now, bye."

_What work would use a psycho bitch like you?_

Karkat just sat on his bed at stared out the window.

It was noon, still dark out. The clouds were obscuring the lovely summer sun, Karkat's favorite season.

He changed out of his pajamas and into some sweatpants and a big sweatshirt, maybe he would just sit on the couch and watch the rain from there.

Karkat jumped when the doorbell rang. He hurried down the hall and looked through the small peephole in the door.

Vriska was there, looking around at his quaint little house.

"Hello?" He snapped when he opened the door.

"Hey." She smiled and held out a familiar object, "Missing something?"

"My phone?" He squinted a bit in the outside light, though there wasn't much.

"Yes! I brought it back just for you! You should be lucky I found it and not some creep!" Vriska laughed.

"Sure." He held out his hand and she roughly plopped the phone into it.

"Well?"

"Well what." Karkat droned more monotone than Dave.

"Aren't you going to let me in?" She pouted.

"No."

"But I gave you your phone back! You should be thanking me!"

"Why? I didn't need it."

Vriska huffed, "Stop acting so depressed! Nothing's wrong!"

"Shut up!" Karkat yelled.

"Excuse me?" Vriska sassed, "What did you say?"

"I said, shut the fuck up before I punch you right in the mouth." Karkat snarled.

"There we go!" Vriska pushed her way in, "There's the Karkat we all know and hate!"

Karkat was not amused.

"What's wrong? You seem so… Different today."

"Nothing's wrong." Karkat shrugged.

"Come on, I can tell that something is wrong. Just tell me! You don't have to hide it from me, we're like, best friends!" She smiled again, her eyes glinting evilly behind her large frames.

Karkat scoffed, "Yeah, sure."

"What?" Vriska fake gasped, "You mean we aren't besties forever?"

"Vriska, will you please just leave." Karkat asked politely.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong." She folded her arms and walked into his living room.

Karkat sighed, "Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Because, I care about you." She overdramatized her whole sentence, fawning back and even fanning herself with her hands.

"No you don't." Karkat rolled his eyes and fell back into his usual charade of hating the world and everything in it.

"Ha, ha. Mr. Smartass got it!" Vriska clapped.

"Just leave."

"No."

"Fucking leave."

"Fucking _no_." Vriska sneered and taunted him with her eyes.

Man, she was really starting to get under Karkat's skin.

Karkat glared at her.

"Aww… Did I make the little crab mad?" Vriska jeered, using the nickname from elementary school.

_"Little crab!" Dave yelled across the park._

_Karkat looked up from his and Sollux's game of two-square. Eridan and Feferi were playing hop-scotch._

_"What?" Karkat yelled back._

_"Crab! Mr. Grumpy crab! Little crab!" Dave chanted._

_Karkat looked behind him and saw Vriska giggling with him, along with Jade._

_He frowned slightly, "Sollux, I don't like that name."_

_"Jutht ignore them. They'll go away."_

_But they didn't. Every day they came back and jeered at him and Sollux, they made fun of them for the things they couldn't control__. Like Sollux's lisp and Karkat's height._

_They made their lives miserable._

"Shut your fucking mouth!" Karkat grabbed his sweatshirt and pulled it off, exposing the scars lined along his torso.

Vriska gaped at him.

"See this? This is why I'm so depressed, this is why I'm different today!" He yelled.

"Karkat…" Vriska put her hand over her mouth, "I had no idea."

"Now you know. Are you happy?" His eyes watered and he tried his hardest to hold the tears back.

"I… I'm not. I had no idea you hurt _yourself_." She looked up at him, concerned.

"I hurt mys—wait what?"

"You made those welts yourself?" She accused.

"No!" He defended.

"Then who made them?"

_I can't tell her._ "I can't tell you."

Vriska slowly backed towards the door, "I know why you did this."

"What?" He looked at her, confused.

"You attention seeking bastard."

Karkat rose an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, what?"

"You're doing this to yourself to get attention! You're just acting as though something weird is going on so that I would show concern for you! You bastard." She shoved him away and stormed out the door, "I don't care. I hope you enjoy your pain."

Karkat was left, gasping at her through the open doorway.

_What just happened?_

He stood up and closed the door, closed everyone out of his world.

He wouldn't tell anyone. Ever.

_No one cares, no one needs to know. _Karkat thought.

_It's not that bad. It's just me._


	17. Chapter 17

**First off, I've been hearing about hurricane Sandy and I hope all of you in the danger zone will be okay! Stay safe good fellows!**

**Okay so, this is short again, but I like the end of this. I like cliffhangers.**

**The story has derailed a bit from what I first thought of, but that's okay cause this is good too! Sorta... T-T ehhhh...**

Well, his phone was dead. Utterly, and completely dead.

"Shitty phone." He threw it across his room; it hit the wall and clattered to the floor.

_Maybe Sollux called…_

He ran out of his room and grabbed one of their home phones.

"Sollux?" Karkat whispered into the line.

"Hello, this is Mr. Captor. Is that you Karkat?" Sollux's dad answered.

"Yes it is me, is Sollux there?"

"Sorry, you just missed him. He ran outside screaming about Mr. Ampora and how he was going to 'hurt' him. He left his phone here, I usually don't answer for him, but this is the second time he's missed you."

"Oh it's fine." Karkat sniffed, "Just have him cal—you know what. Tell him not to call back, I'll call him."

"Alright son, you take care." Mr. Captor hung up.

"Fuck!" Karkat yelled.

He started crying again. Jegus, was he sick of all this emotional bullshit.

"No one likes me!" He cried again.

He tried calling Nepeta, she was better than one of his mom's apeshit crazy rampages.

"Hello?" She purred.

"Hi Nepeta, it's Karkat."

"Ooh! Hi Karkitty! What are you up to?" She squealed, a bit too hurriedly.

"Oh not much, just doing random shit around the house." He paused, "Hey Nepeta?"

"Yes Karkitty?"

"What are you doing right now?"

"Oh! I'm just here with Equius, he is really good at arm wrestles you know!"

"With Zahhak?" He gasped.

"Yep! We're on a purrfect little date right now!" She crooned, "He's so great!"

"Date?"

"Fur sure!"

"Well fuck, sorry, I didn't know you were on a date. I'll leave you to your uh… Business." He coughed.

"It's purrfectly fine Karkitty! I will talk to you later!" She laughed.

"Bye."

_Well fuck._

Karkat was just upstaged by a big, sweaty, muscle beast. Something was wrong with that Equius fellow, he just couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Gog damn!" He shouted, "What the hell?"

He was so sick of this, so sick of being treated like nothing. He was sick of no one caring about him, he was sick of being the last resort. But they had other people that would hang out with them. Sollux had Feferi and Eridan, Nepeta had Equius. John had, well he was done with that boy. He was done with everyone.

Karkat started to cry again, "Why?" He sobbed, "Why me?"

_You know how to fix this. Make your mom happy, make your friends happier._

He knew exactly how to fix this, and it wouldn't take much.

Maybe just an overdose, a shot, a jump. It wouldn't take anything at all.

_Nothing at all._

He was thinking about it.

_You selfish bastard._ He mentally smacked himself. _Do you know how selfish you've been? How many people would have benefited from losing you sooner? Do you know how many problems you've cause? Your dad would probably still be here if it weren't for you._

The door opened and his mom clicked in, she threw her shoes off into the dark recesses of the house.

"Karkat!" She shrieked, "Get out here!"

There was no response.

"Karkat?"

Still none.

She ran into his room, not there either.

"Hey! Are you even home?" She yelled.

"God damnit Karkat." She lifted her phone to her ear.

"Hi, you've reached Karkat Vantas. Congradu_fucking_lations, you get to hear the mystic fucking wonder that is the sound of a prerecorded message. Leave a message, fuckass!" His voicemail played.

She screamed in frustration, "Karkat!"

_Where had he gone?_


	18. Chapter 18

**This isn't over.**

When Karkat woke up it was getting light out, morning? How long had he been out?

_What has she done to me?_

Karkat was covered in new welts and bruises, his skin felt raw to the touch.

"Mom?" He called into the dark house. He checked the clock, nearly eight a.m.

He was stood up from his cramped position, lying awkwardly on the bathroom floor.

_No, I don't want to do this anymore._ Karkat sat back down on the floor; he stared up at the white-tiled ceiling and contemplated his existence.

"Dad!" Sollux yelled, "I called him in the morning again, like you thaid. Thince he didn't anthwer at _all_ yethterday."

"Still not answering?" Mr. Captor inquired.

"Yeth! I'm thtarting to think that he ith ignoring me." Sollux pouted.

"Sorry son, did you try his home phone?"

Sollux turned to slowly face his father, "No, I did not think of that."

"Why don't you try it?"

"Thit, why didn't I think about that, I am tho daft thometimeth." Sollux grumbled, "Whath the home phone number?"

Karkat was done. He was done, no more. He didn't want to cower in the bathroom and wait for his mom to come over. He didn't want to hide from her, from anyone.

_I'm going to do it._

Karkat reached into the cabinet and grabbed out some of his mom's sleeping pills.

_I'm going to do it._

Karkat fumbled with the child-safety lock until it snapped open.

_I don't want this pain anymore._

His whole body ached, he was exhausted from fighting. He knew it wouldn't get better, it would just get worse. He knew she would eventually kill him, no matter what he did.

Why not make it easier?

_No one would care._

Karkat dumped a small handful out. The dark purple pills stood out against his pale skin.

_Do I want to do this?_ Karkat thought. _Do I want to end the pain?_

Absolute nothing would be so much better than pain, Karkat didn't belong here. _I don't want to be here, end the pain._

Karkat raised the pills to his mouth…

_Ring! Ring! Ring!_ The shrill ring of the phone made Karkat flinch, but he kept the pills tightly locked in his fist.

"Hello?" He heard his mom answer sweetly.

"Oh, I'm sorry; he's not home right now. But you could leave a message." She replied to the grumble Karkat heard.

"Alright, bye Sollux!"

_Sollux?_

"Karkat!" She screeched, "Get your ass out here!"

Karkat shook. _One last chance. Do I want to?_

He raised them to his mouth once more, "Karkat!"

_Nepeta cares._

_Jade cares._

_Gamzee cares._

_Kanaya cares._

_Rose cares._

_John cares._

_Terezi cares._

_Eridan cares.  
Feferi cares._

_Sollux cares._

**_Sollux cares._**

The bathroom door jerked open, "What are you doing?"

Karkat stared up at her. He hardly reacted to her barging in on him.

_What's that in her hand?_

"You… You're trying to kill yourself." She whispered, "I know you are."

"Mom." Karkat pleaded.

"I knew it." She hissed, she roughly grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of their tiny bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Karkat gasped, "Mom no!"

"I hate you. I hate your father. I hate you." She spat, tears were streaming down her face. "You hate me! That's why you're doing this to me, you hate me."

"I don't!" Karkat yelled, "I don't hate_ you_."

"I'm sorry." She murmured. She raised the dark object up in her shaking hands.

_It's a gun._

"I'm sorry."

There was a shot, then silence.


	19. Chapter 19

**Happy two monthaversary! I posted the first chapter of this story a mere two months ago and now it's all grown up! (but still not finished)**

**So, I do hope that I didn't leave you hanging for too long!**

**CREDIT: My friend helped my write this and she has an account on here she's just too lazy to post her awesome stories and I can't remember her username... 0_0 *cough***

**Enjoy!**

_There's blood everywhere._

Karkat looked down, there was a big red spot spreading out from where the bullet hit.

Blood was dripping down and onto the floor, Karkat couldn't breathe.

His vision started to blur, he was lightheaded. Karkat Vantas was very confused.

_Why me?_ Karkat put his face in his hands, they were trembling. He felt wetness that he didn't even know was there.

"Mom." Karkat croaked.

No response.

"Mom, get up."

Still none.

_What have I done?_ Karkat looked down to where the red was leaking onto the carpet and creating another dark stain, where her life was slowly fading away.

Karkat took a shuddering breath; he slowly stood up and ran to where the phone was neatly placed on the hallway table.

His fingers trembled as he punched in the number he never had a reason to use before now.

"Hello, what is your emergency?" A girl asked.

"I…" Karkat sobbed, "I need help. Please help me, I need help."

"Where is your location?"

Karkat told her his address, "I just heard it, I don't know what happened." He lied.

"Alright sir, please calm down. Help is on the way."

"Sure." Karkat hung up on her; he grabbed his jacket and shoes and bolted out the door.

Karkat ran. He ran away from all that he used to know. He didn't know where he was going, he just ran. He wanted to get as far away from that hell-hole that he once called home.

Karkat knocked on a door, someone's door. He felt sick, he felt dead, he felt like he was going to pass out.

"KK?" Sollux gasps, "What are you doing here?"

"Help me…" Karkat mutters, "I need—" Karkat retched, he felt like he was going to puke.

Sollux put an arm around Karkat and quickly leaded him to the bathroom.

Karkat puked, the acid stung his throat as images of his mom's dead body flashed through his mind. Her blood spattered in his vision, it burned his eyes and turned his vision dark.

_She's dead, she's dead, she's dead._

"Who'th dead KK?" Sollux affectionately rubbed Karkat's back.

_Did I say that out loud?_

"Yeth?" Sollux helped Karkat up after he had finished empting his stomach contents.

Karkat staggered over to Sollux's couch, the same couch they had watched The Birds on, only days ago. But to Karkat, it felt like months. He squeezed his eyes shut and sobbed on Sollux's couch. He cried himself into oblivion.

Karkat woke up to someone gently stroking his hair. He turned his face into their chest and let out a few more silent tears.

"KK? Are you okay?" Sollux whispered.

Karkat sobbed loudly, "No, no I'm not."

"What happened? You jutht came over, puked, then you fell athleep on my couch."

"I-I don't know." Karkat mumbled.

"Who'th dead?"

_Who's dead? I'm dead, can't you see Sollux? I should be the one that's dead. Not her, never her._

"KK, who'th dead?" Sollux asked again, a little more demanding this time.

"She's dead." Karkat mumbled, "She's dead and never coming back."

"Who ith the dead one?" Sollux forced Karkat to face him as he started to shrink away.  
"My mom!" Karkat sobbed, "My mom is dead! She's fucking dead, and I don't know what to do!"

"What!?" Sollux gasped, "I'm tho thorry." He pulled Karkat closer, "I really am."

Karkat gripped Sollux's yellow shirt and pulled himself in closer.

They sat on the couch for who knows how long before Sollux pulled Karkat back a bit to look into his eyes.

"Karkat?"

"Yeah." Karkat grunted.

"I love you." Sollux whispered.

Karkat's cheeks flushed slightly, "What?" His long eyelashes were still wet from tears.

Sollux pulled Karkat up to meet him, he gently kissed his crying friend.

"Stop Sollux, please. I really can't deal with this right now." Karkat turned his face away and pushed himself up from Sollux's lap.

"Where are you going?" Sollux pleaded.

"I…" Karkat trailed off. _I have nowhere to go._

"Pleathe." Sollux begged, "Thtay with me. You can't go home, jutht… Pleathe?"

Karkat fell to his knees, "I hate you." He glared at the ground.

Sollux patted Karkat's trembling head, "I know."

His voice was filled with so much hurt it almost broke Karkat's heart.


	20. Chapter 20

**This story isn't over. I still have plans for it.**

**Did you know: I write my chapters in all different colors, this one is teal.**

The next few days went by in a flash. Karkat could hardly remember any of them.

He remembered getting interrogated by the police, but he was let go after confirmation of his mother's suicide. He remembered going home and grabbing his stuff. He remembered being with Sollux the whole time.

He did not remember the night after his mom had died, he did not remember that at all.

"Sollux?" Karkat mumbled, he had decided to stay with Sollux's family for the time being, after getting approval from his 'legal guardian' and Mr. Captor, of course.

"Yeah KK?" Sollux flipped through the channels on his bright TV. The colors illuminated the walls around them and lit up the dark room.

"I…" Karkat began, "I can't remember what happened that night, after my mom died. How did I end up here?"

"You mean, you don't remember coming over here after?"

"No, not at all, and I'm fucking worried something's wrong with me." Karkat whispered.

_He doethn't remember what I thaid to him._ "I don't think that anythingth wrong."

"How can you not be fucking worried? I'm over here having a gog damn panic attack, wracking my fucking brain to try and figure out what happened." Karkat started breathing faster, "I can't figure out why I can't remember! Is something wrong?"

"It'th probably the thock, that can happen to thome people." Sollux shrugged. _Karkat doethn't remember what I did, what I told him._

"Oh… Well fuck, you should've said something earlier!" Karkat snapped.

"I didn't know what you were thinking about! I'm not thome thitty mind-reader!" Sollux retorted.

"Shut the fuck up Sollux."

Sollux stood up and stretched, "I think that it'th time for bed now."

"I second that." Karkat slurred, he flopped off of the couch and onto the floor.

"Come on, don't be difficult KK."

"I am so fucking difficult, you can't even imagine." Karkat mumbled.

"Jutht thtand you lazy thitthtain." Sollux grabbed Karkat by the wrists and began to pull him to the stairs.

Karkat yanked his wrists from Sollux's grip and whimpered, holding them close to his chest.

"KK?" Sollux whispered, "I'm thorry, did I hurt you?"

"No, they were already hurt." Karkat grumbled, "Just try and be more careful."

"Why are they hurt?" Sollux held his hand out for Karkat to grab.

"None of your fucking business." Karkat grabbed the hand Sollux had offered and was pulled gently to his feet.

"Okay." Sollux trudged up the stairs to the room he and Karkat shared.

They changed into pajamas, brushed their teeth, and cozied into bed.

Karkat snuggled down into the extra mattress he and Sollux had dragged in from the spare bedroom. Karkat didn't know why he didn't just sleep in there, but he didn't care.

"Goodnight, Sol." Karkat muttered. His crab stuffie was squished in next to him.  
"Night KK." Sollux hugged his stuffed bee close to him as he drifted to sleep.

_Raining again. Sollux thought, he closed his black umbrella and dropped it onto the ground._

_It was dark out, almost too dark to see. Sollux should have been heading home._

_But where was he? He didn't recognize anything around him, he didn't see what was on either side of him._

_There was only the road, the same road that—_

_Sollux suddenly didn't want to be here, he felt sick to his stomach, hands cold and clammy._

_"I need help!" He yelled, "Thomeone, pleathe!"_

I don't want to go through this again. _Sollux thought._

_"Mom, no!" Sollux ran towards where she stood._

_There was hardly time to react, she coughed red. She choked up red, bright red._

_"Mom…"_

_She reached her hand out, stained with her blood._

_"Sollux…" She smiled softly before collapsing onto the pavement._

_He was only three. He was only seventeen. He was only a child._

"No!" Sollux jolted awake, tears were streaming down his face.

"Sol?" Karkat mumbled, "What's up?"

Sollux sobbed into his pillow, "Nothing, jutht go back to thleep."

"I can hear you, you know?" Karkat sat up and started towards Sollux.

"I-I know." Sollux sniffled.

"Hey, you okay?" Karkat placed a tentative hand on Sollux's back.

Sollux sniffed and shrunk away from Karkat.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

Sollux let out another sob.

"Can I do anything to help?"

Sollux reached his arms out, beckoning for Karkat to hug him.

Karkat leaned down and wrapped Sollux in a warm embrace, filled with stuffed animals and blankets.

"Karkat, wait." Sollux grabbed Karkat's hand as he turned away to go back to bed.

"Yeah?"

"Thtay with me."

Karkat sighed and laid down next to Sollux. He wrapped his arms around him and cradled Sollux to his chest as if he was a small child.

"KK?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't leave me." Sollux whimpered.

"Why would I do that?" Karkat muttered, half asleep.

"Thank you." Sollux whispered as Karkat's light snores filled the room.

_Thank you so much._

__**Whoops, I forgot to mention until now but...**

**HomeStuck (C) Andrew Hussie**

**DUH!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey guys! If you like this, than go check out my other story! It's called Snow Day, (I can't post a link on this arrggg) ^-^ It would be awesome to see both of these stories get views and stuff!**

**I don't really even like pancakes.**

"Hey, get up fuckface, I'm hungry." Karkat hit Sollux with a pillow.

"What?" Sollux rubbed his eyes and grabbed his glasses off the side table.

"I said, make me some fucking food before I eat you!" Karkat snapped his jaw at Sollux.

"Calm down! We can go make food!" Sollux laughed.

"Good!" Karkat's stomach rumbled.

Sollux stood up and stretched, "Leth go."

Karkat started out the door, "Hurry up!"

"I thaid calm down, I'm coming!" Sollux laughed again.

Karkat held his hand out, waiting for Sollux to grab it.

He hesitated. _Ithin't thith what you want?_ Sollux reached out, almost holding it.

Karkat grabbed his hand, darting across the rest of the space in between them.

Sollux hardly had time to react before Karkat was pulling him down the stairs and into the small kitchen.

"Let's make pancakes." Karkat suggested.

_I love pancaketh._ "Yum!"

Karkat started to pull the ingredients down from the shelves, he knew Sollux's kitchen almost better than his own. Well, it wasn't his anymore.

"Wait—KK?" Sollux started, "I thought that you hated pancaketh."

"What? I never said that, now help or go fuck off." Karkat's lips held the ghost of a smile, almost unnoticeable.

"I would help, but lookth to me like you've got everything under control."

"Ha ha. Very funny, now get your ass over here before I eat all of this pan-formed cake shit without you." Karkat teased.

_He knowth that I love pancaketh, even though he hateth them._ "Hey!"

"Hurry up and help me!" Karkat poured the batter into the pan.

"Watch it!" Sollux saved the syrup from being spilled all over the ground.

"Whoops, sorry man." Karkat moved his plate over.

"We're cool, Mr. Epic caught it before anything went wrong." Sollux shoveled a bite of pancake into his mouth.

"Hey, want to try something?" Karkat smiled devilishly, "I have a fun game."

"Oh no…" Sollux whispered, "Am I going to be hurt?"

"No, fuckass! Come on, just play it with me!" Karkat begged.

"Alright, fine. You're childith puppy-dog eyeth are too cute for me to dithagree!"

"Cool, now I'm going to launch this piece of cake into your mouth with my fork. Okay?" Karkat explained.

"Thoundth thafe enough. I'll go with it." Sollux shrugged.

Karkat ripped off a small piece from his pancake and set it up on his fork, "Ready?"

"Yeah, jutht thoot it already!"

"Three, two, one, blast off!" Karkat pulled his fork back and sent the piece flying towards his friend.

"Bah! You mithed!" Sollux shook the cake from his face, "Jutht a bit lower and you might have gotten it!"

"I'm trying, that was only one fucking shot." Karkat narrowed his eyes and tried again.

"Nithe thot." Sollux rolled his eyes as the piece narrowly missed hitting his nose.

"Shut up! You try, this is fucking hard!" Karkat retorted.

"Fine, open up!" Sollux launched a piece in Karkat's direction, hardly giving him time to react.

"What are you—" Karkat flinched when the cake hit him in the middle of the face.

"Howth _that_ for lucky thot." Sollux crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh… It is fucking on." Karkat flung another piece over to Sollux, hitting his glasses.

"You wanna go?" Sollux prompted.

"Fucking yeah, let's go!"

Karkat and Sollux proceeded to have a very childish pancake-food-fight.

"Hey." Sollux huffed, "Truce?"

"Sure." Karkat stuck his hand out and shook Sollux's, ending their fierce battle of breakfast foods.

Most of the pancakes didn't get eaten, but ended up on the floor.

"You do know we have to pick all of thith up, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill." Karkat started to gather all the batter chunks and pile them up on a plate for easy disposal.

"We've done thith too many timeth."

"But this is the first with pancakes! We've done cookies, butter, and chili."

"Good thing thith room ithn't carpeted, or else we would have some fun cleaning that." Sollux started up a pile of his own.

"Yeah, good thing."

They slowly piled up the rest in silence.

"Oh, you can grab that." Sollux bit his lip and pulled his hand away when they both reached for the last piece.

"Oh no, I can't let you do that, please." Karkat stood up and turned towards the garbage can.

"You do that every time!" Sollux grabbed the last piece and rushed to beat Karkat towards the garbage can.

"At least I pick up my messes!" Karkat compared the sizes of their piles.

"Oh come on, you thtarted before me!"

"Sure." Karkat grabbed Sollux's plate and dumped the two in the garbage can.

"You know it'th true."

"Whatever." Karkat stood up and faced Sollux.

Sollux looked down at Karkat, contemplating his choices.

"Sol? Are you okay?" Karkat put his hands on either side of Sollux's face.

Sollux's heart sped up, his breath hitched.

"Karkat I…" Sollux muttered.

"Just spit it out, fuckhead."

Sollux leaned down and kissed him for a second time, hoping that this time around, he would remember it.


	22. Chapter 22

**Look I'm done with it. Finally.**

**It seems as if I've come down with a case of I-have-too-much-to-do-and-too-little-time disease. Stay back it might be contagious... **

Sollux kissed Karkat softly, gently. Karkat didn't pull away, so he just stayed there longer.

He took a step back, looking down at the limp hand in his.

"Here." Sollux shoved something small into Karkat's hand, "Keep it."

"Sollux—wait!" Karkat yelled as he bolted out the door. His mind told him to run, to follow him, but his body kept him locked in place.

Karkat slowly opened his hand, remembering the object Sollux had given him.

It was a ring, a small silver ring. It had a bee and a crab etched into the band, the word _forever_ in between them.

Karkat felt tears well up in his eyes. He slipped the ring onto his right ring finger.

"Sollux..." He whispered to no one.

_What are you thtill doing? He doethn't even like you._

Sollux kicked a rock into a nearby gutter, "No one doeth…" He furrowed his eyebrows in displeasure.

"Well, well… If it isn't Mr. _Captor._" A girl sneered at him, "Fancy seeing you here."

Sollux looked up from his self-loathing, "What do you want Vrithka?"

She snickered, along with her little posse of boys, "Still have that lisp, I see."

"Thut up." Sollux glared at her, "Go away."

She put her hand to her mouth and fake gasped, "You would say that to me—and in front of Tavros? I am absolutely _appalled_!" She fell back into Tavros' arms.

"Uh… Vriska?" Tavros murmured.

"Yeah?" She snapped.

"M-maybe we should uh… Just leave, he looks uh… Kind of um, upset." He stuttered.

"Yeah motherfucker, let's leave the kid to his moping." Gamzee chimed in.

"You guys are going to chicken out on me?" She crossed her arms and stubbornly pouted, "I thought that you liked me."

"We uh, do like you!" Tavros smiled at her.

"Then you'll stay." She growled.

"Cool it Serket." Dave put a cautioning hand on her shoulder, "Don't push it too far."

"Boo! You guys are so _lame_!" She pouted again, "You all hate me!"

"We don't hate you motherfucker, we just have better things to do than discuss four-eyes over here." Gamzee smiled at her, "You know what I mean…"

Vriska clenched her jaw, trying not to smile.

"Guyth, I'm jutht walking, do you need to gang up on me every time you thee me?" Sollux narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"We're _not _ganging up on yo—what's that on your hand?" Vriska grabbed Sollux's wrist, "Is this a ring? Where'd you get it?"

"None of your fucking buthineth." Sollux tried to pull his hand away, but she had already grabbed the ring off of him and was anxiously holding it up to her face.

"A bee and a crab?" She scoffed, "This is for children."

"Um, cute…" Tavros noted.

"Motherfucking wicked shit miracle stuff is what that is. I should get one for you Tavbro." Gamzee pulled Tavros over to him by the hand, "What do you say?"

"I uh, I don't know." Tavros blushed.

"You two are so weird sometimes." Vriska gave them a disgusted look, "I don't know why I even talk to you."

"Keeps up your motherfucking high street cred." Gamzee smiled, "Not that you need it."

"Whatever, here's your ring back _lover boy_." Vriska cackled, "Who'd you give the other one to?"

"None of your beethwax." Sollux snarled.

"Oh… I bet it's for that _cancer _Karkat." Vriska winked at Dave, "Why would you be giving that pathetic bastard a ring?"

"Jutht back off of him, okay?"

"Well!" Vriska retorted, "I didn't think that it would _upset _you? Are you upset Sollux? Are you?"

"When you talk about my betht friend behind hith back, yeah that maketh me upthet!" Sollux felt hot rage boiling up. _And that'th all he'll ever be. Jutht my betht friend, maybe not even that now._

"Whoa!" Vriska smiled, "Getting a bit defensive now are we?"

"Thut up."

"Do you have something… Going on?" Vriska laughed, "You so do!"

"Go away." Sollux yelled.

"The bee and the crab, I get it now!" She laughed, "You and Karkat? That is just _precious!_ Invite me to your wedding, okay? I want to be there to support the _happy_ couple!"

"Jutht be quiet!" Sollux roared, he pushed Vriska back onto the pavement before any of them could react.

"Dude." Dave stuck his hands in his pockets and went over to help the girl up.

"Sollux…" Vriska whispered, "It's your fault. I'm hurt."

"What?" Sollux gasped, he didn't mean to hurt her, she was just making him so angry.

"I you broke my arm." Vriska gasped, "I can't move it."

"Come on spider girl, let's go home." Dave helped her up, trying not to injure her further.

"I hope you're happy!" Vriska sobbed, overdramatizing everything, like always.

_I am happy. I defended my friend and…_ Sollux decided he was going to go back to Karkat, he was going to make things right. Whether it was in his favor or not, he was going to take on his problems instead of run away from them.

"KK?" Sollux called into the seemingly-empty house, "Hey, are you in here?"

"Sollux." Karkat turned the lights on.

"Lithen KK, I didn't mean t—"

Karkat cut him off with a hard kiss on his mouth-speaking orifice.

"Yeah fuckass, I get it. I like you too, I didn't realize that until today, but I guess I'll give it a shot."

"Betht bro friendth?" Sollux held his fist out as offering.

"Yeah. Betht bro friendth." Karkat mocked.

Sollux punched him.

**Hey if you like the Hunger Games (or have at least heard of it) then go check out this story collab my friend and I are writing!**

**fan fiction (dot com) s/8714952/1/The-Games**

**Thank you for reading~**


	23. Chapter 23

**Happy Friday! Just remember, this story isn't over until ****_I _****say it's over!**

**Pchoooooooooo**

"You ungrateful little shit, I hope you fucking die." Karkat yelled, whumping Sollux with a pillow.  
"Hey! You can't do that, that ith cheating and you will be thent to the cheating hell." Sollux rammed his shoulder violently against Karkat, causing him to fall off the couch.  
"What the fuck? Why'd you do that?" Karkat wailed, "Now I'm going to fucking lose to some lame-o loser hacker dipshit head who doesn't give enough fucks to actually play by the rules.  
"It'th not my fault your life thuckth! Who dethided to buy a giant flat-thcreen TV? Thertainly not me!"  
"Well you spun the damn spinner for me that time so it's your fucking fault! Now I'm broke, we're playing fucking Life for crying out loud! How hard is it to just make some fucking money off a cheap-shit job like working at McDonalds or being a male model or something?" Karkat whined. After a whole day of playing board games, both boys were tired out.  
"Male model?" Sollux chuckled, "I didn't know that you were interethed in that thort of thing… Can I thee a few of your potheth?"  
"What the fuck? Did I seriously say male model? What is wrong with me?" Karkat took Sollux's little car, filled with tiny plastic bundles of joy and viciously dumped them into the street.  
"Hey!" Sollux pouted, he watched his little Life family get dumped onto the board.  
"Now your family is homeless and has to live with me, pay up, fuckass!" Karkat held his hand out, patiently waiting for the money Sollux was not going to give him.  
"I'm not going to give you my fake money. Why don't you jutht go rob a bank or thomething?"  
"I will rob you." Karkat stuck his middle finger in Sollux's face.  
"Do it."  
"You are a fucking douchebag!" Karkat yelled after promptly flipping the game board over for a third time that day.  
"I love you too, dipthit!" Sollux grabbed Karkat's hand and pulled him closer.  
"Sollux…" Karkat grimaced.  
"What?"  
"Shut your damn mouth." Karkat snapped, a smiled threatening on the corners of his lips.  
"Make me." Sollux held his face out, waiting for the kiss he thought would come, just like in all their little scrabbles that day.  
Karkat leaned in and smushed his face against Sollux's, silencing the computer-geek with his lips.  
"There, now be silent!" Karkat smiled.  
Sollux smiled back and made a zipping motion with his hand across his lips.  
"Alright dude, I am fucking done with silly games. I am going to go take a shower, then we are watching a movie together." Karkat decided.  
"Thoundth good to me..." Sollux purred seductively.  
"Shoosh you!" Karkat called out of the bathroom door, "Just watch one of your shitty movies and I'll be done soon."  
Sollux flipped the TV on as the water began running through the house.  
"Gueth I better clean up..." Sollux smiled. He got out of clean up duty again.  
"Hey Sol!" Karkat yelled from the bathroom, "Could yo-ow! Pffttshhppt what the fuck?"  
"What did you do thith time KK?" Sollux yelled back, he had a handful of little pink and blue plastic people and a handful of fake money.  
"Nothing, got it!"  
"Did you get thoap in your eye again?" Sollux laughed at the thought.  
"I did not!" Karkat scoffed.  
"Yeah, right..." He turned his attention back to the TV and the clean up of small objects.  
A few minutes later the soft hum of water running ceased. Sollux turned the TV off.  
Guesth he'th done. Sollux thought. Karkat walked out, his bottom half covered by his fluffy crab pajama pants, but the top half left uncovered.  
"Hey Sol, I was wondering if w-" Karkat was abruptly cut of by a loud gasp from the other.  
"Karkat?" Sollux whimpered.  
"Yeah?"  
"What..." Sollux breathed, "W-what..."  
"Just fucking spit it out already, I don't have all fucking day!"  
"What are thothe?" Sollux pointed a shaky hand at Karkat's exposed chest.  
"You mean..." Karkat's eyes widened in surprise, in the fun of the day he had forgotten about the marks his mom had made on him.  
"Thothe! The markth all over your chetht! How?" Sollux sputtered, Karkat could see his eyes begin to tear up.  
"Did I get them?" Karkat finished.  
"No."  
"What?"  
"How come you didn't tell me." Sollux wiped his eyes.  
"Because... Because I didn't want you to worry!" Karkat lied. Because I don't want you to know how much pain I'm in, or that it was all my mom. No one should know.  
"Well I'm really fucking relieved that you trutht me tho much!" Sollux yelled.  
"I do trust you! It's not like I didn't want to tell you, I couldn't!" Karkat started to get angry too.  
"You couldn't tell me that you were hurt? I thought betht friendth told each other everything!" Sollux's voice kept getting louder.  
"No, listen Sollux! I couldn't tell you!" Karkat wailed, even though she was dead, he was still hesitant to talk about what happened.  
"Couldn't tell me what? What couldn't you tell me? What wath tho bad that you couldn't tell me?"  
"Do you really want to know?" Karkat whispered after a long stretch of silence.  
"Yeth. Yeth I would very much like to know." Sollux had stopped yelling and was now speaking in a voice that surpassed anger.  
"My mom." Karkat breathed.  
"What? What about your mom?" Sollux rushed over to his friend, inspecting the marks with a feathery touch.  
"She did this." Karkat's voice trembled, he didn't want to remember.  
"The hurt you?" Sollux's voice became softer as the reality of what had happened sunk in.  
"She told m-me that I couldn't t-tell anyone or else sh-she would..." Karkat was sobbing now, his words becoming almost incoherent.  
"Sh... Sh... It'th okay, the can't hurt you any more..." Sollux wrapped his arms around him and rubbed his back in a comforting manner.  
"She-she said that she would kill me!" Karkat gasped in between sobs, "I couldn't tell anyone!"  
"Sh... The'th gone now, you can thtop worrying. I'm thorry for yelling at you, I didn't know..." Sollux felt his eyes well up again at the thought of Karkat being hurt.  
Karkat continued to sob into Sollux's shoulder, and eventually, they ended up slowly sinking to the ground.  
"I'm tho, tho thorry that happened." Sollux murmured into Karkat's hair.  
"Okay." Karkat sniffled.  
"Really, I am."  
"Yeah, I know. No need to dwell on the past."  
But both of them continued to re-live the past as they watched terrible romcoms together. They sat in silence and just enjoyed each other's company.


	24. Chapter 24

**This is by far the shortest chapter ever. **

**Anyways, this is the second to last chapter! :( I'm doing one more then MAYBE an epilogue. We'll see... We'll see...**

**Hope you've enjoyed my story!**

"Hey…"

"Hey, wake up."

"What time is it."

"Sollux wake up."

"Sollux, please wake up."

"Sollux, please, please, please wake up now."

Karkat grabbed Sollux and shook him gently, "Sol… Wake up! it's time for you to open your eyes."

"KK?" Sollux mumbled, "What ith it?"

"It's really, really dark." Karkat whispered.

"Then go turn on a light, dumbath." Sollux rolled over and let out a light snore.

"But Sollux!" Karkat whined, "They won't turn on!"

"Then go find a flathlight." Sollux sat up, "Would you like me to thow you where one ith?"

"No… I want you to—argh!" Karkat jumped, "Sollux!"

"What? It'th jutht lightning…" Sollux said.

"No! There's thunder too!" Karkat wailed, "Sollux…"

"What'th wrong?"

"Sollux…" Karkat let out another loud squeak as the thunder rang out.

"Hey? You okay?"

"No!" Karkat cried, he buried his face in Sollux's shirt, "The power's out too."

_He'th thcared of the dark._

"Sh… It'th okay." Sollux comforted for the second time that night.

"Sollux!" Karkat sobbed.

"It'll be gone by morning." Sollux gently rubbed Karkat's back.

_It alwayth ith._


	25. Chapter 25, The End

**This is the long awaited final chapter. **

**If you would like an epilogue, character backgrounds, etc. please post a review telling me so!**

**OTHERWISE MY BABY IS ALL GROWN UP AND ALKSDFJASDLFKJ ENJOY:**

"You okay?" Sollux murmured into Karkat's hair the next morning.

"Yeah, just got…" Karkat started.

"A bit thcared?" Sollux smiled, "I underthand."

"Yeah."

"Tho what do you want to do today?"

"I don't know, I think that I might want to go for a walk on my own for a little bit."

"Okay, I'll be here when you get back." Sollux called as Karkat shut himself in the bathroom.

_What are you even doing?_ Karkat looked at his pale reflection in the mirror. The fading bruises, the scabbing wounds only memories of what had happened.

It felt like a dream, every second that Karkat kept living felt like a dream. _One day, _he thought, _I'm going to wake up from this fantasy land and she'll be right there. She'll be waiting for me._

Karkat ran his hand over his chest, tracing the scars left there. _What if it's all just dream?_ Then so far, it's been the best fucking dream he'd ever had.

He looked at the ring on his hand again; it seemed to be the only reminder that it wasn't all a big joke. That some sick fuck wasn't going to pop out and yell 'just kidding!' it was real. His mom wasn't still alive and preparing for her next round of torture.

He smiled a little before getting ready to go out. He seemed to be smiling a lot lately.

"See you later, I'll be back before lunch." Karkat grabbed his jacket off the hook and opened the door.

"Alright, thee you later."

Karkat started down the street, hoping to make his way to the big park that they had played football on only weeks ago. _Was it weeks ago? It feels so much longer. _Maybe it was the abuse, the death, and the emotional trauma that Karkat had gone through, but it seemed like years since that he had last been out without a worry.

"Watch out, Nitram!" Someone yelled in the distance.

_Fuck, Serket._ Karkat quickly changed course, walking swiftly in the other direction.

"Yo, Vantas!" Someone yelled from ahead.

_Pretend you didn't hear, just keep walking, just keep—_"Oof!" Karkat ran into something human-like, "Fuck? What the hell are you even doing?"

"Motherfucking bro… Where'd you think you're going?" Gamzee smiled at the smaller boy, something in him seemed different somehow. Something seemed changed.

"Gamzee? Fuck, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." Karkat swerved around the clown and kept walking.

"Hey!" Gamzee grabbed Karkat's wrist, "Where'd you think you're going?"

"Gamzee let go!" Karkat yelled, "Let me the fuck go!"

"What's wrong? Can't deal with a little dark carnival magic trick?" Gamzee smiled again.

_Oh._ Something was different, and Karkat found the difference. His eyes, they weren't clouded and sleepy like usual—they were sharp and dangerous.

"Gamzee, what's wrong with you? You look fucking different today!"

"It's nothing… Just ran out of sopor slime is all…" Gamzee raised his eyebrows, "I'm looking for more, got any?"

Stupid slang words, Karkat didn't know what the hell sopor slime was. "What the fuck is sopor slime? And no, I don't have any."

"A shame," Gamzee muttered, "See you, honk."

"Gamzee?" Karkat yelled, "Is sopor slime the nickname for some drug you're on?"

"Motherfucking maybe!" Gamzee called back.

"Gamzee, wait!" Karkat ran to catch up with his friend.

"Motherfucking what?" He snarled, "I don't have time for your motherfucking foolishness, I have motherfucking better things to do than waste time with you."

"Gamzee…" Karkat muttered, "What happened to you? We used to be best friends, connected at the fucking hip. Then you met Tavros, and the spider bitch, and Strider and now… You've fucking changed for the worst."

"Who motherfucking said it was for the worst?"Gamzee growled in his face  
"I said it was for the fucking worst! Now get your juggalo ass back here so I can finish talking to you!"  
"Motherfucking why?" Gamzee hissed, "You can't tell _me_ what to do."  
"I do whatever the fuck I want, now stop and listen to me." Karkat folded his arms over his chest and waited for Gamzee to talk to him.  
"What the motherfuck do you even want to talk about?"  
"I want to talk about you. What the fuck happened to you? Why did you suddenly start hanging out with all of them instead of me and Sollux like you used to?"

"Why did I go and hang out with them?" Gamzee sputtered, "Because they make me motherfucking happy!"

"Didn't me and Sollux make you hap—"  
"I never motherfucking liked Sollux in the first place! I hung out with him because I liked _you!_" Gamzee yelled, making the nearby birds scatter from their cluster of trees.  
"What?" Karkat gasped, "What do you mean you liked me?"  
"I mean that I had more motherfucking feelings than just friendship, but motherfucking Sollux had the same idea!" Gamzee's hands were starting to tremble, his breathing began to hitch, "I was motherfucking head over heels in love with _you_. How could you have been so blind?"

"Gamzee, I didn't know. You should have told me!" Karkat yelled, "Maybe something—"

"No!" Gamzee roared, "You have no idea what that's like. You have no idea what I went through, you have _no_ idea!"

"I don't have any idea what it's like? What what's like Gamzee, what?" Karkat yelled back.

"My parents got divorced, they never talk to me anymore. The only time I see them, is _never_. I saw the guy I was in love with get taken from me by some kid that he hardly knows! What happened to you when I needed you?" Gamzee's voice broke, the kind of break that would usually make Karkat give in and hug the clown.

But this time it was different, this time Karkat got mad.

"Fuck you!" Karkat yelled, "You think that you had it hard? You think that you were the most troubled person on fucking _earth_! You think that your problems are bad? Well listen to mine!"

"What?" Gamzee snapped, "What's wrong with you?"

"Me? Oh nothing much, just recovering from the death of my mother where she tried to _kill me_, but instead, she killed herself! Still getting over the disappearance of my dad, who I hardly even knew because he was gone all the time having affairs with other women! And you know what's worse? The fact that my mom blamed the whole thing on me and beat me, almost to fucking death, ever since! That my best friends abandoned me and called me a liar for the whole thing, that no one believed me when I said that she abused me. They thought that I hurt myself! Do you know how scary it is to not be able to tell anyone anything without the worry of being killed? Do you know how scary it is to be oblivious to when she'll strike again, and how hard? How bad? How deadly?" Karkat's face got redder with every word, and with every word he just got more and more angry. "You think you have it bad? Think again!"

Gamzee stood, silent. Karkat let the words sink in, his whole body trembling with anger and fear.

"I didn't know…" Gamzee began.

"You abandoned me when I needed you most… But Sollux was there, he came to rescue me from the abyss I was trapped in." Karkat softened his voice, "He was there with me the whole time. Where were you?"

_Me?_ Gamzee thought. _Where was I?_

"Just go." Karkat muttered, "Go back to your other friends. I'm going… Home."

_Home? What is home?_ Karkat kicked at a leaf on the way back, "Fall already? It seems a bit early."

_What is home now?_

_Do I even have a home?_

_Why am I still here?_

_What am I doing here?_

_I should just disappear, and leave everyone alone. Maybe that would be better._

"Hey Sollux, I'm back." Karkat yelled into the warm house.

"Hi KK! I'm jutht making thome cookieth." Sollux smiled at him from the kitchen, "They're freth out of the oven, want one?"

"Hell fucking yes I want one." Karkat dropped his jacket and ran to the kitchen, "Milk?"

Sollux laughed, "It'th in the fridge, you know where."

"Yes!"

They ate cookies, sat, talked, watched dumb movies, and began to drift off.

"Hey Sol." Karkat muttered groggily from his half-awake daze.

"Yeah?"

"I think that I just might like my life."

"Me too."

_Maybe life wasn't so bad. Maybe all that he had needed was love and cookies…_


	26. Epilogue

**Here's the epilogue:**

**Then they got married and had lots of rainbow babies and lived happily ever after... **

**NOT.**

**((okay I'm sorry, the real thing is just down there, and sorry in advance for any mistakes you may see, proofreading my own work is not my strong point))**

_A few years have passed and the two have only grown closer. High school had come and gone, as had college, they have little to no trouble with work 'bullies' and are beginning to realize that their relationship is getting more serious._

"Hey Sollux, it's me again, your fucking boyfriend. I was just wondering if you were late from work or some shit or if you're mad or something, because you won't answer your phone and I'm starting to flip my shit. Okay, call me back or something, bye." Karkat snapped his phone shut. _What the fuck Sollux? Are you mad?_

He nervously wrung his hands. Okay, so maybe he had said some stuff that wasn't too nice, but didn't he always? Sollux was going to come back, he just knew it. He always came back.

The weight in Karkat's pocket felt like it had become a thousand times heavier, he always carried it around, the question looming in the back of his mind. _Will you marry me?_ Ever since he had seen it a month ago, he knew it was perfect. The perfect fit, the perfect everything, the ring was perfect.

Simple, dark banded, to gaudy gems or flashy rhinestones, very Sollux. It had practically screamed _Sollux!_ when Karkat had seen it Christmas shopping.

He was going to pop the question tonight; he had everything all planned out, simple like Sollux liked it. Nothing special, just a pizza, a terrible movie, it would all be fine.

As long as Sollux showed up.

"What is taking him so long?" Karkat grumbled to the wall. _Maybe he doesn't want to marry you._ A little voice taunted from the back of his mind, "Shut up."

Maybe the voice was right, maybe Sollux didn't want to marry him.

_No, it'll be fine. Why would he say no? Karkat, get a hold of yourself!_

Karkat tapped his fingers on the table, each hollow tap ringing out in the tiny apartment.

_Tap, tap, tap, tap._

He began to worry, worry about nothing. _What if Sollux is having an affair? What if he's mad at me for something? What if he says no? What if, what if, what if…_

"Argh!" Karkat slammed his fist down on the table, tears streaking down his face, "Sollux is not leaving me!"

_"Ring, ring, ring!"_ His phone trilled loudly from his pocket. Karkat quickly wiped his face, as thought the phone would be able to see him.

"Hello?" _Please be Sollux._

"Hello, Mr. Vantas? This is Dr. Lim from the University of Washington hospital."

"Yeah?" Karkat swallowed, he _really _did not want to hear what he thought he was going to hear.

"Your friend, Mr. Captor, is in critical condition, I advise that you come here straight away." She said calmly, too calmly.

"Okay." Karkat shakily put his phone in his pocket and bolted out the door, hoping that he could make it in time.

"Dear fucking lord, please be okay." Karkat whispered to himself in his grubby little car. The downpour outside was definitely not helping calm his nerves, and the headlights that kept flashing in his eyes made him flinch.

"I'm here." He breathed once he got to the front desk, "Karkat Vantas. I'm here to see Sollux Captor."

"Mr. Captor? He's in critical condition, please follow me."

_Yeah, thanks lady. Hurry up!_ Karkat forced himself to walk calmly beside her, rather than sprint to Sollux's room and punch him in the face for being so stupid.

"What happened?" He croaked, "Why?"

"He was in an accident… At work, a young man came with a gun and he fired randomly, many people were injured. A few more fatally than others." She shot him a sympathetic glance, "We're almost to his room now, just a few more doors down."

"Did they catch the shooter?" _Screw proper grammar._

"They did, a man named Eridan Ampora."

Karkat stopped, "I'm sorry—_Eridan Ampora?_ You've got to be shitting me."

"I'm afraid not, he was a strange one. Saw him on the news, some guy with purple in his hair and crazy in his eyes." She tutted softly to herself, "Very strange."

"No fucking way." Karkat ran to catch up with her, "Please tell me this is all some sick joke."

"You'll have to see for yourself." She smiled sadly at him, "Here he is."

White walls, match sheets, dark rug, pouring rain, antiseptic stung his nose.

"Sollux? Is that you?" Karkat ran up to the bed where a rhythmic beating was emanating.

"Karkat?" Sollux croaked, his eyes fluttered open and settled on the crying man.

"How?" He grabbed his hand and held it tight, as if it would be the thing that kept him tied to earth.

"That fuckin' Ampora ith how…" Sollux slurred, "Bang, bang, bang."

"Do you know who else?" _Stop talking to him; can't you see he's in pain?_ "Wait, don't answer."

"Fef…" Sollux sniffled, "Fef too… Fef didn't-the didn't…"

"No…" Karkat held back a sob, "Sollux, I'm so glad you're okay."

"Sollux is very lucky to have a friend like you." Someone chuckled from the shadows.

"Huh?" Karkat peered into the dark corner, still keeping a firm hold on Sollux's hand.

"Remember me? Aradia? We went to the same high school. I remember playing flag football with you." She stood up and walked over to him, tears and mascara running down her face.

She quickly wiped it off, smiling a bit at Karkat.

"Yeah, I remember." _I remember Eridan before he went rogue._

"Okay." She patted Karkat on top of his head, "I'll leave you to him. I hope he'll get better." She walked out the door and left Karkat to his own devices.

Sollux was crying too, everyone was crying.

"I thought that Eridan wath my friend." He sniveled, "I didn't think that he would…"

"Shh..." Karkat stroked Sollux's hair, "No one did."

"And Fef too…"

"Yeah." The ring felt like a thousand ton brick in his pocket, "I don't want this to happen again ever, but if it does…" He pulled it out, suddenly light as a feather, "I want you to be mine if it does."

"Karkat?" Sollux panted, "What?"

"I want you to marry me. Well, this wasn't exactly how I planned things to go, but that's okay."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Karkat… I don't know what to thay…"  
"How about yes?" Karkat smiled at him through his tears, "That's a nice solution."

"Yeth. A thouthand timeth yeth." Sollux laughed as tears poured down."

_Please don't tell me that his heart is getting slower._

Sollux leaned up and pressed his lips against Karkat's, "It taketh more than a few bulleth to thoot down a Captor."

"I like the sound of that."

_Just don't let it die._

"Tho do I."


End file.
